Smyth victim in Brady resign call

from the article on BBC News:

A victim of serial abuser Fr Brendan Smyth has called on the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland to resign.

Cardinal Sean Brady has admitted he was at meetings in 1975 where two abused children signed vows of silence over their complaints against Fr Smyth.

On Monday, a victim of Fr Smyth called Samantha told the BBC the church needed to "root out the rot and start from the top".

"This is not a witch hunt, this is about what is right," she added.

Mar 17, 2010    Policy , Country:Ireland , Case:Sexual

From schools to prisons: Disciplinary policy brings incarceration

from Brian Wells, David Dutschke, Joseph Phelps and Walter Jones' article on Courier-Journal.com:

One of the most alarming trends affecting our children today is what has become known as the “school to prison pipeline,” a term used to describe an all too common reality for poor-performing students. First they are academically unsuccessful, then their misbehavior results in school disciplinary action, then their misbehavior puts them into the juvenile justice system, then they leave school prematurely and eventually end up as incarcerated adults.

Nationally, students who do not graduate are three times more likely to be incarcerated.

We are losing too many young people down this pipeline for the good of our souls and of our society. The problem calls for the creation of coordinated and creative approaches by our court systems and our school systems.

Mar 17, 2010    Policy , School

East Lansing advocate: Jury award should impact bullying

from Kathleen Lavey's article in LSJ.com

A jury verdict that found a Michigan school district liable for $800,000 in damages to a student who was the victim of bullies should reinforce that bullying can't be tolerated, an East Lansing advocate says.

"This really should be a call to schools that, in the eyes of our legal system, bullying is something that can no longer be overlooked," Kevin Epling said.

Mar 17, 2010    Policy , School

Is violence ever justified?

The inaugural annual lecture hosted by the Forgiveness Project will feature Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The event will include a panel discussion featuring speakers who have been involved in and suffered from violence.

Mar 17, 2010    Event

Workplace bullying and restorative justice – how to help the families left behind

from Kevin Jones' entry on SafetyAtWorkBlog:

A feature article on workplace bullying in The Age newspaper on 10 March 2010 has the additional or secondary benefit of again raising the relevance of “restorative justice” to the issue of occupational safety and health.

The main element of the article is the McGregor family who had two children commit suicide over related issues.  The son, Stuart McGregor,  described as being chronically depressed, was being bullied at work.  He confided in his sister, Angela McGregor, over the issues.  Angela had been bullied at school.  [Angela] killed herself.  A month later, Stuart followed.

Mar 16, 2010    Workplaces