Restorative Justice and Sentencing

Restorative programmes are sometimes used after a determination or plea of guilt but before sentencing. The resulting agreements are then used by the judge in determining the sentence. The result is typically a reparative sentence, with or without diversion from detention or prison facilities. These articles describe programmes, issues and research.

Green Paper: Breaking the cycle - Effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders

from the UK Government's new Green Paper: 78. We are committed to increasing the range and availability of restorative justice approaches to support reparation. Restorative justice is the name given to processes which provide victims with the opportunity to play a personal role in determining how an offender makes amends. This can often include direct reparation. A substantial minority of victims would consider meeting their offender by way of a restorative justice process and those victims who do report high levels of satisfaction. The evidence suggests that the approach may also have a positive impact on the offender’s likelihood of reoffending in the future. Getting an offender to confront the consequences of their crimes directly is often an effective punishment for less serious offences.

Criminals, community work together on successful mural project

From the article by Casey McNerthney: Talking Friday about criminals he was asked to work with on a community mural, Lake City resident Chuck Dickey recalled his first reaction. "I didn't want them here." Nearly two years ago, the city proposed sending the offenders to the neighborhood as part of the Community Court program. Officials say 50 repeat, non-violent offenders were part of the recent effort -- mostly people convicted of prostitution, theft and criminal trespass. The program gives misdemeanor offenders the chance to get social services and work on projects designed to pay back the community. Their work changed the minds of people like Dickey.

Prisons in the sky

by Dan Van Ness One of the persistent themes in penology has been the idea that architecture can help produce transformation in people. From the monastery-like isolation of prisoners in the Walnut Street Jail and its successor the Eastern State Penitentiary in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries to the Auburn model allowing for aggregate work but individual isolation, to Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, to today's Supermax prisons, form has indeed followed function. Now eVolo magazine has awarded first place in its 2010 Skyscraper Competition to Malaysian architectural students for their Vertical Prison, conceived of as somehow floating high above the ground with elevator pods transporting prisoners, staff, food and so forth between the prison and earth. Prisoners would work in farms to supply earth with organic products. Those who behaved well would be given cells with windows pointed to the earth so they would be motivated to reform themselves. The naivete of the design (the prison floats without support in the sky) and reform strategy (the architecture students do not appear to have researched the history of prisons) is remarkable, as is that of the judges of the competition.

Footpaths to pathways

Tony Mulder is the Police Commissioner/Alderman of Bellerive, Tasmania, Australia. He writes in his blog: Alderman Tony Mulder has called for a change to Community Service Orders (CSO) for young offenders. Alderman Mulder’s call was prompted by his apprehension of two youths in the act of vandalising the bus shelter near Rosny College on Sunday night. “I’ve given the matter some thought”, Ald Mulder said “and current CSO tasks like painting out graffiti do not provide a pathway toward social re-engagement.” Instead, Ald Mulder suggests compulsory attendance at a pre-apprenticeship TAFE course. “If they don’t engage, it is no different to a CSO, but if they commit, they gain a pre-apprenticeship qualification and important employment and life skills.”

Do Better Do Less: The report of the Commission on English Prisons Today

 

. A history of youth justice in New Zealand.

The Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 revolutionised New Zealand youth justice practices, establishing an innovative set of principles and procedures to govern the response to young offenders, and to manage the role of the State in the lives of young people and their families. The founding objective of the legislation is ‘to promote the wellbeing of children, young persons, and their families and family groups’ (section 4). The Act thus seeks to empower families and communities, rather than professionals, in deciding the best measures to respond to offending behaviour in children and young people This report will explore the background to the youth justice provisions of the Act, both internationally and domestically, with the hope that an understanding of the system’s evolution will render a better insight into the principles behind this innovative piece of legislation. (excerpt)

Wallace-Capretta, Suzanne and Bonta, James and McAnoy, Kevin and Wallace-Capretta, Suzanne and Roonery, Jennifer and Bonta, James. An Outcome Evaluation of a Restorative Justice Alternative to Incarceration.

Restorative justice has become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional applications of criminal justice. The emphasis on victim needs and the personalizing of conflict resolution offers an alternative choice for those dissatisfied with the adversarial, impersonal, and retributive fovus of the present criminal justice system. Many evaluations of restorative justice programs, especially those with a diversion goal have rarely controlled for the possibility of net widening and the influence of offender risk on recidivism. This evaluation examined a prison diversion program that followed restorative justice principles. Using a matched comparison group and controlling for offender risk, the program demonstrated a diversion effect and a significant reduction in offender recidivism. The results are encouraging for jurisdictions experimenting with this new approach to justice and seeking a more integrated role for victims in criminal justice processing.

Wood, Catherine. Diversion in South Africa: A review of policy and practice, 1990-2003

Diversion initiatives in South Africa, writes Catherine Wood, have been practiced since the early 1990s. Since 1996 there has been a substantial expansion in the number of children referred to diversion programs. However, this has occurred in a more or less selective and disjointed fashion as there has been no legislative framework to regulate this development. In view of all of this, Wood in this paper reviews the policy and practice of diversion in South Africa in the 1990s and into the 2000s. She examines the concept of diversion and its introduction and development in South Africa, with reference to the drafting of the Child Justice Bill in 2002. She outlines the new procedures and mechanisms for diversion as proposed in the Bill. Then she analyses developments in the field of diversion that have taken place in South Africa since 1997 in preparation for implementation of the Bill.

Morris, M. Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists.

This handbook is written for those who feel it is time to say "no" to prisons as a long range goal, and to provide practical steps toward achieving the goal of prison abolition. This booklet includes materials by Fay Honey Knopp, Barbara Boward, Mary Jo Brach, Scott Christianson, Mary Ann Largen, Julie Lewin, Janet Lugo, Mark Morris and Wendy Newton. The 9 perspectives for prison abolitionists are presented. Chapters include consideration of abolitionism, demythologizing our views of prison, the attrition model for diminishing/dismantling the prison system, organizing a moratorium on prison/jail construction, plans to decarcerate and excarcerate, consideration of the "dangerous few" problem, envisioning a new response to crimes with victims, and community empowerment.

Stokes, Julie. Diversion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth From Juvenile Detention

This is a comprehensive overview of the diversion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth from the criminal justice system in Australia. In part 1, a literature review addresses issues for Indigenous Australians, the juvenile justice system, offending by Indigenous youth, drug use among Indigenous youth, the etiology of psychoactive substance use disorders and offending behavior, the etiology of substance use problems among Indigenous youth, diversion from the criminal justice system, bail and remand, sentencing Indigenous offenders, treatment of psychoactive substance use disorders (PSUD), PSUD treatment in the juvenile justice system, PSUD for Indigenous people, and interventions to reduce recidivism. Part 2 presents national data on Indigenous youth in juvenile detention centers, and part 3 summarizes programs, services, and diversion procedures for Indigenous youth in each Australian jurisdiction. Part 4, which addresses existing programs and key principles of diversion and treatment, covers the existing range of programs; youth conferencing; and police training in juvenile diversion initiatives, particularly early interventions. Part 5 presents six recommendations pertinent to improving diversion policies and programs for Indigenous Australian youth. Recommendations pertain to the development of a greater number and range of culturally appropriate diversion options that target Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth; the design of future diversion and treatment services for Indigenous juveniles in accordance with specified principles; the enhancement of the knowledge of police and magistrates about diversion options for Indigenous juveniles; a revision of policies that exclude repeat juvenile offenders from diversion programs; the collection of identifying data for the monitoring of youth in the full range of diversion options; and broader social justice programs for improvements in PSUD interventions for Indigenous youth. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Ellwanger, Joseph W.. Restorative Justice vs. Retributive Justice.

[1] “Restorative justice” is a concept that has been written about, talked about, and argued about. However, only a few people have actually been engaged in the practice of “restorative justice.” Fortunately, the number of such practitioners is growing, and the faith community is discovering that restorative justice is closely related to such biblical truths as redemption, reconciliation and healing.(excerpt)

Van Ness, Daniel W. Restorative Justice in Prisons.

Increasingly, Corrections departments throughout the world are implementing restorative programmes in the prison context. This work raises several issues related to the appropriateness of restorative justice in prison and objectives to be met by such programmes. Daniel W. Van Ness, executive director of the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation at Prison Fellowship International presents this overview of the use of restorative justice in prison. This paper was originally presented at Symposium on Restorative Justice and Peace in Colombia, Cali,Colombia, 9-12 February 2005.

Hagemann, Otmar. Restorative justice in prison?

According to Ottmar Hagemann, programs that could be classified as forms of restorative justice are currently being implemented in prisons in various countries. In this vein, Belgium has recently introduced what are called restorative justice consultants. One works in every prison in Belgium. Yet, inquires Hagemann, is the concept of restorative justice compatible with imprisonment? Hagemann explores the question by discussing abolitionism (advocacy for the elimination of prisons in favor of alternative forms of conflict resolution), restorative justice and abolitionism, the scope of restorative justice in terms of what crimes are and can be addressed, empirical evidence with respect to an in-prison program focusing on offender empathy for victims, and links between restorative justice theory and actual practice in prison settings.

Maxwell, Gabrielle and Anderson, Tracy and Morris, Allison and Maxwell, Gabrielle. Community panel adult pre-trial diversion Supplementary evaluation

New Zealand has been exploring new models of justice to respond to victims, reduce recidivism, and enhance community safety. These models have been variously described as focusing on restorative justice, indigenous justice, community justice, or diversion. Elements of all of these models can be seen in the Community Panel adult pre-trial diversion schemes that are the subject of this evaluation. In this paper, the authors summarize pilot Community Panel diversion schemes in New Zealand: their different settings and processes; the participants and their experiences; outcomes; and costs.