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Summary

Sherman, Lawrence W and Barnes, Geoffrey (1996). Restorative Justice and Offenders' Respect for the Law Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE), Australian National University, Canberra. RISE Working Papers: Paper No. 3.

Sherman and Barnes review a new practice by the Canberra police. The new method, called "diversionary conferencing" in the ACT, was introduced in 1994 and has been under evaluation since mid-1995. It adopts principles of restorative justice and seeks to condemn the crime but not the criminal. Conferences work by diverting confessed offenders from court to a far more intense, personal (and lengthy) alternative. Influenced also by juvenile justice reforms in New Zealand, these conferences represent a radically new approach to community policing because they mobilise a community of concerned citizens around the offender, the victim, and the crime.

Link: www.aic.gov.au/rjustice/rise/working/risepap3.html

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