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Summary

Barlow, David E. and Barlow, Melissa Hickman and Scandone, Joani and McNeil, Walter A. (2004). Restorative Justice, Peacemaking, and Social Justice: The Application of Kingian Nonviolence Philosophy in Community Policing. Criminal Justice Studies. 17(1): 19-31.

Some police officers have been studying the strategies of nonviolence, as presented in the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to incorporate them into their own policing strategies. This article explores the principles of the Kingian philosophy and how they are applied in the Tallahassee Police Department while placing this police reform into a context of restorative justice. The paper also reflects upon the potential value of this strategy in producing a more responsive and less violent police force which is equipped to improve police community relations. Finally, this paper explores the dialectic relationship of reform and repression as it contemplates on the potential of this program, or any other criminal justice ‘reform,’ for producing social justice. Author’s abstract.

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