Summary
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We need a broad spectrum of responses to crime. Everyone knows that. Yet we persis in believing that a formal criminal justice response is the process of choise. Whose choice? Is it simply because we have invested too many public resources for too long to even see that more is not only not better not capable of fixing what obviously doesn't work, but continues to make things worse? What explains our persistent "march of folly" into greater dependency and increasing publis expenditures on formal justice systems. This paper speaks of sentencing circles or peacemaking circles as one option for a new partnership that draws on the best of both partners. In discussing some of the primary differences between circles and formal justice processes the paper aspires to explore how circles broaden the spectrim of responses to conflict and how new partnerships can be forged. (author's abstract)
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