http://www.restorativejustice.org The "good" Samaritan in Luke 10 is called that because he, unlike the religious people, stopped to assist a crime victim. Why didn't the religious people help? What do victims need from people of faith? The following articles explore the link between victims and faith. daily 1 2009-02-06T08:08:54Z http://www.restorativejustice.org/RJOB/doing-justice-honourably From Janet Sim Elder's post on Per Crucem ad Lucem: A crucial question in this election year is how do we do justice honourably with both victims and offenders? How can recidivism continue downwards and how do public attitudes change to being solidly evidence-based? How do we face the challenge of changing the justice landscape? Can we provide the moral courage to help our society take steps towards a more just and merciful society? No publisher dvanness Region: Pacific Biblical Religion Country:New Zealand Victim 2011-07-18T18:27:32Z News Item http://www.restorativejustice.org/RJOB/church-vandals-apologise-to-congregation from the article by Rene Gerryts on Bridport News: Four of the youngsters responsible for vandalising a Bridport church stood before its congregation on Sunday to apologise. The quartet – whose images were captured on CCTV – agreed to take part in the new Restorative Justice scheme. ....Mr Evans said: “It is the first time I have been involved in this sort of system and it was terrific. No publisher dvanness Region:Europe Country:England&Wales Community Religion Victim 2011-04-17T10:40:13Z News Item http://www.restorativejustice.org/RJOB/forgiveness-scholar-opens-up-on-role-of-faith from Francis X. Rocca's article in The Christian Century: Today, at least 1,000 academic researchers and "countless therapists" specialize in forgiveness studies, Enright said, but at the time, a library search turned up not a single piece of scholarship on the subject in any of the social sciences. Enright found himself drawn to the area and began leading a seminar on forgiveness at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he was a tenured professor. Among the assigned readings for the seminar were selections from the scriptures of various religious traditions. Those texts raised questions that led Enright back to back to Christianity: first to what he describes as a liberal Methodist church, then to an evangelical Protestant congregation, and finally back to Catholicism. No publisher dvanness Religion Forgiveness Victim Biblical 2011-02-27T21:42:41Z News Item http://www.restorativejustice.org/RJOB/helping-victims-of-clergy-sexual-abuse-suggestions-for-pope-benedict-xvi from Robert M. Hoatson's post on Road to Recovery: Based on Road to Recovery’s on-the-ground experience helping the abused cope with the effects of their abuse, we offer to Pope Benedict and his colleagues in the hierarchy the following suggested action steps that will help restore clergy abuse victims to fullness of life (these steps do not preclude the necessary and/or statutory reporting of all crimes to local and/or national law enforcement): No publisher dvanness Religion Victim Community Case:Sexual 2010-05-30T22:49:06Z News Item http://www.restorativejustice.org/RJOB/better-not-bitter-says-activist-mukoko By Taurainashe Manonge in The Zimbabwe Telegraph: Abducted and tortured activist Jestina Mukoko, has said that the pain and trauma she experienced in the hands of state officials last year, has left her Better and not bitter. Speaking on December 17, 2009 at a meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Human rights forum to celebrate her City of Weimar Human Rights Award, Mukoko also director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, said it was inner strength and the knowledge that people all over the world were rallying alongside with her that kept her going. “I believe there was a purpose in all this. It might have been a nasty experience but looking at how I now deal with people who have been tortured I have a different perspective to it.” No publisher dvanness National Reconciliation Victim Religion Region: Africa Country:Zimbabwe 2009-12-21T23:22:52Z News Item http://www.restorativejustice.org/RJOB/a-pilot-study-of-a-faith-based-restorative-justice-intervention-for-christian-and-non-christian-offenders from the journal article by Armour, Windsor, Aguilar, and Taub in Journal of Psychology and Christianity: Restorative justice and faith-based programs are receiving increased attention as innovative ways to help change offenders' internal motivations as well as external behaviors (Rockefeller institute of Government, 2007). The purpose of the present pilot study is to examine change in offenders' pro-social responses after participation in an in-prison faith-based program that draws from the principles of restorative justice. No publisher dvanness Community Religion Other Victim Prison 2009-10-06T19:29:31Z News Item http://www.restorativejustice.org/RJOB/victims-and-victimizers-1 "We as society do not allow people to be victim and victimizer --- they are one or the other," said Suzanne Neuhaus, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation victims' services specialist. No publisher dvanness Reconciliation Offender Religion Victim Forgiveness 2009-05-22T04:46:04Z News Item http://www.restorativejustice.org After the brutal murder of her fifteen year old daughter, Karen was devastated. Yet she needed that terrible experience to be turned toward a positive purpose. To that end she volunteered to participate in the Sycamore Tree Project® -- a faith-based, in-prison restorative justice programme – in order to share her story with prisoners who had caused similar pain through their violent acts. To their surprise, both she and her husband discovered that they had been given a way to address and let go of some of the anger and pain they had been holding. Editor Religion Victim 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article http://www.restorativejustice.org This collection of essays grew out of a 1997 "Theological Forum on Crime Victims and the Church," sponsored by Neighbors Who Care. Neighbors Who Care (NWC) was a non-profit organization affiliated with Prison Fellowship Ministries. The purpose of NWC was to assist churches that serve victims of crime in their congregations and communities. Seeing a need for serious theological and biblical reflection on issues of crime victimization and the Christian Church, NWC invited a number of religious scholars, clergy, and victim service-providers to present papers on and discuss key issues facing crime victims. Out of that forum in 1997 came the essays in this book. Written by various participants in the forum, the chapters cover questions about the presence of God in relation to the experience of crime, the role of the Church in caring for crime victims, victimization and healing, restoring justice, forgiveness, and more. Included in the book are a study guide for individuals and groups, recommendations for further study, resources for victim services, and a list of forum participants and contributors to the book. Shattuck, Michelle D and Lampman, Lisa Barnes Living Religion 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article http://www.restorativejustice.org In this chapter, retired seminary professor Elizabeth Achtemeier urges the Church to consider crime victims and respond to their needs primarily from the perspective of God’s purposes in the world rather than from contemporary cultural perspectives. Achtemeier examines key biblical themes and passages to explicate what this means. God created the world intrinsically good. Our rebellion against God corrupted the world and human existence, leading to many forms of victimization. Yet God acts to overcome our rebellion and heal the harms caused by it. Therefore, according to Achtemeier, we should respond to victimization in accord with God’s purposes. In drawing out the implications of this, Achtemeier discusses vengeance, forgiveness, trust in God, assistance to victims, and restitution. Achtemeier, Elizabeth Biblical 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article http://www.restorativejustice.org Duane Ruth-Heffelbower begins his reflections on the restorative faith community with acknowledgment of the many ways in which faith communities themselves are damaged and fractured by wrongdoing and broken relationships. Often faith communities do not know how to work at broken relationships both within their own community and in the world outside their community. Against this background, Heffelbower offers the Peacemaking Model – developed for victim-offender reconciliation in Fresno, California – as a tool that can be used in every type of situation where broken relationships leave feelings of injustice. If restorative justice is a natural fit for faith communities, how then can restorative faith communities be built? Heffelbower explores this question by drawing on his observations of Indonesia’s experience in dealing with diversity and conflict. Ruth-Heffelbower, Duane Religion Victim 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article http://www.restorativejustice.org The paper is (as is the thesis) theologically speaking to be found in the intersection between dogmatics and ethics. I intend to see whether the suffering and attempts to reconciliation in the South African society can give a deeper understanding of the reconciliation in Christ. And also to see how or whether the reconciliation in Christ can give a new dimension to human suffering and injustice on the one hand, and on the other to a healing settlement after times of war and suppression. (excerpt) Fossland, Anne Lise Article Religion Victim 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article http://www.restorativejustice.org This program will assist your congregation to begin a journey of discovery and growth. Through Fire in the Rose, you will explore the nature and consequences of abuse; you will examine your own attitudes, feelings and experiences; you will reflect on the roots of abuse and violence, and identify tools and skills that promote new ways of living together; and, you will work with others in the congregation and the larger community to create and strengthen ministries of healing and prevention. (excerpt) Church Council on Justice and Corrections Article Religion Victim 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article http://www.restorativejustice.org In many ways the religious community still struggles to respond appropriately to the plight of victims, and the legal community still has much to learn about satisfying justice, in both senses of the phrase – what truly satisfies the demands of justice, and what form of justice brings most satisfaction to the parties involved, particularly to victims. In this article I first offer some reflections on the nature of victimisation and on why the presence of victims poses particular challenges to the faith community. I then turn to consider restorative justice, which is one of the most promising justice alternatives to emerge in recent times. I propose that there are theological as well as practical reasons for why restorative justice merits our support and confidence as a satisfactory, and satisfying way, to address the justice needs of victims, as well as those of others caught up in the tragedy of crime. (excerpt) Marshall, Christopher D. Practice Victim 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article http://www.restorativejustice.org This paper will offer a view of faith based restorative justice by the Catholic Church, a review of the US Bishops statement; our experiences in setting up our Symposium; and the outcomes of that event. On March 15, 2003 two thousand people braved record rain storms to attend our Symposium at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. They came to explore how the common good intersects with crime and punishment in California. They were victims of crime, law enforcement custodial staff, administrative staff and parole officers, attorneys, judges, prison chaplains and volunteers, former offenders, families of the incarcerated and people looking for answers and for hope. The goal of our Symposium was to move public opinion and create a political climate more amenable to restorative justice in line with a Catholic vision presented in the statement of our U.S. Catholic Bishops, Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration. To accomplish this we offered eleven keynote presentations and seventy-five workshops in English and Spanish plus a special track for youth. We covered every topic possible, from the story of a victim family member, to the story of a warden and the death penalty, to a presentation on how restorative justice promotes public safety by the former director of the California Department of Corrections; to a presentation by the current State Secretary for Youth and Adult Corrections on living out your faith while working in a correctional setting. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz. McDermott, Debbie Conference 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z RJ Article