Implementation

Resources for implementing resources at the community/neighbourhood level.

Weil, Marie and Carlton-LaNey, Iris and Macgowan, Mark J and Waites, Cheryl and Pennell, Joan. Increasing the Cultural Responsiveness of Family Group Conferencing

Child welfare struggles to manage child abuse and neglect and to seek permanency for children, while being culturally responsive to the communities it serves. Family group conferencing, piloted in New Zealand and now used in the United States and other countries, is a strengths-based model that brings together families and their support systems to develop and carry out a plan that protects, nurtures, and safeguards children and other family members. This article describes the model and a culturally competent method for assessing and adapting the model for the African American, Cherokee, and Latino/Hispanic communities in North Carolina. Author's abstract.

Claes, Bart and De Loose, Martin. Are media a proper answer to the problem of non-participating actor (the community) in mediation/RJ?

One critique of victim-offender mediation is the fact that the broader community, who is certainly an important stakeholder, is not involved, is not participating in the process like the victim and the offender and their relevant thirds, can’t express their feelings, formulate their grieves and questions etc. We know all that the community has a need to express their feelings, has a lot of questions… (cf. Belgian cases like the murder of Joe Van Holsbeek where 80.000 people came on the street to express their sympathy, to say no against senseless violence…). Although you can give this critic also on the present criminal justice system where the prosecutor represents the community, we want to explore in the workshop the question of it’s possible that the broader community participate in victim-offender mediation. Perhaps it can. Together with the media we can maybe involve the broader community in victim-offender mediation and make a communication between the offender, the victim and the broader community possible... (excerpt)

Community Mediation and Community Development In Scotland

Over 3000 community conflicts in Scotland are resolved through Community Mediation each year. The NGO Sacro has developed a series of manuals for developing a Community Mediation service. The final manual addresses the role of community mediation in fostering community development. In this article, Ian McDonough, mediation adviser for Sacro, provides an overview of the manual with a link to the full-text.

Restorative community policing in the UK: Dorset, Cheshire and Norfolk constables point the way

From the article by Joshua Wachtel: Police in roughly 50 percent of counties in England and Wales employ some form of restorative justice (RJ). Constables in districts including Dorset (southwest), Cheshire and Lancashire (northwest), Hull (northeast) and Norfolk (east) are actively making restorative practices (RP) their first line of defense — at officers’ discretion — for dealing with neighborhood disputes, first-time and low-level youth offenders, youth crime in schools, and some adult cases.

Park, Augustine S. J.. Community-based restorative transitional justice in Sierra Leone.

Community-based restorative transitional justice is an important feature of peace consolidation, maximizing access to justice and facilitating reconciliation. Examining post-conflict Sierra Leone as a case study, the author draws on existing justice practices in Sierra Leone as examples of restorative responses to war criminality. Specifically, the traditional reintegration of former male and female combatants and the emergence of a new project, 'Fambul Tok' are detailed. The author discusses and compares the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to point to gaps in transitional justice that call for community-based restorative strategies.

Wengert, Michaela. Trusting the Community to Get it Right -- Resolving Serious Offences Outside the Traditional Justice System. Youth Justice Conferencing in New South Wales, Australia.

While ‘seriousness’, ‘degree of violence’ and ‘harm to the victim’ are criteria for assessing whether a matter is appropriate for YJC, the Act requires that less serious matters be finalised by formal caution. Conferences are intended for serious and repeat offenders, and appropriate matters may include assaults occasioning injury, property offences where the monetary value of damage is tens, or hundreds, of thousands of dollars, or other offences where the victim has suffered significant physical or material harm. (excerpt)

Schatz, Mona. Vital Voice for Restorative Justice: The Community Members

"This chapter introduces some of the ideas and perceptions of community members who participate in a restorative justice conferencing process in a Colorado community. Some of the information presented emerged from a case study done by the author and graduate social work student (Jaeckel, 2005)." (Abstract)

Barge, Matthew and Root, Oren and Bobb, Merrick J. and Buchner, Brian. Evaluation of a Pilot Community Policing Program: The Pasadena Police-Community Mediation and Dialog Program.

This report presents the methodology and findings of the evaluation of a pilot community policing program in Pasadena, CA that combines mediation with community dialog in addressing citizen complaints against police officers and in strengthening police-community relationships. The evaluation found that mediation and dialog, as practiced in Pasadena, have great promise for building greater mutual understanding and trust between the police and community members; however, it is not reasonable or practical to pursue replacing the traditional investigation-and-adjudication model for handling complaints against police with the mediation-and-dialog model. Mediation is limited primarily to complaints that allege officer rudeness, disrespect, or minor instances of excessive force. This report advises that criteria for selecting cases for mediation should be carefully devised and not be too broad. Further, outreach and education efforts within the agency and community regarding the nature and purposes of the mediation-and-dialog model are critical to program success. Further, mediation should be used to do more than resolve individual complaints against the police. In conjunction with the mediation program, Pasadena has organized public forums that address issues of broader community concern, some of which are related to issues underlying specific complaints. If a complaint is suitable for mediation, a sergeant contacts the involved officer and union representative in proposing mediation in lieu of a formal internal affairs investigation. If the officer chooses mediation, the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Service, Inc. receives the complaint referral, which in turn contacts the complainant and offers mediation. The use of trained outside mediators helps ensure that both officers and community members view the mediation process as unbiased. Although the goal of mediation is for the parties to reach a mutually agreeable resolution, either party can terminate the mediation at any time for referral to a standard investigation. (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov)

Editor. Video Review: Building Our Community: A Film about Restorative Practices.

Building Our Community is a 15-minute video highlighting the use of restorative practices in Collingwood Primary school located in Hull, UK. Teachers, students, administrators and parents discuss the impact on the school environment and individual students of using circles and conferences.

Taraschi, Shruti Gola. Fostering a Restorative Worldview and Building Community.

There are many occasions in my work when I am moved toward the feeling that I am doing something very simple. Almost too simple and not any more deserving of the lines within this reading space than anyone else who does what I do. I am someone who brings people together. And together we create a space that allows each of us to listen, be heard, and perhaps be understood. We solve conflicts and are often moved to create collective solutions that are often as unique as we each are as individuals. Some experience this space as sacred or profoundly meaningful. Others experience it as an innovative way to build consensus, mutual understanding, and uncover solutions that are able to last. But no matter what individual experiences might be, there is an experience common to all restorative processes. And that is the experience of human beings connecting with sincerity.