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Voth, David. The Victim Justice Ship in the Restorative Justice Harbor

The author notes that workshops on the role of crime victims in restorative justice theory and programming usually center on anecdotal victim sensitivity stories, illustrations of victim offender mediation, and exhortations to include victims as stake holders in the justice process. These activities should continue, but reaching a safe harbor where the victim justice ship can dock requires additional channel buoys. Although we see dimly the shores of restorative justice, it must include healing oriented processes for all participants even before the conclusion can be determined collaboratively between victim, community, and offender. To move toward that place in history, some system changes and victim issues need to be addressed.

Lavery, Carol and Achilles, Mary. Apologies: Balancing the Needs of Victims and Offenders

Lavery and Achilles identify important issues and questions that must be addressed when apologies by offenders to their victims is considered as part of a restorative justice endeavor. The victim must be in control - fully informed of the offenders motives and expectations, and allowed to decide when and if to accept an apology - in order for the apology to have a truly rehabilitative effect.

Lamont, Louise. A best practice model for victim services: A reflection on the process that developed the model.

Lamont maintains that, for families affected by family and domestic violence, a Best Practice Model is a critical mechanism for promoting victim safety. Specifically, such a model maximizes accountability in service provision, so that victims receive quality service in response to family violence. With this in mind, she provides an overview of the processes that led to the development of a Best Practice Model for Victim Services within the Domestic Violence Prevention Unit (Western Australia).

Bazemore, Gordon and Umbreit, Mark S. Guide for Implementing the Balanced and Restorative Justice Model

This 88-page report is the result of 5 years of joint development, training, and technical assistance efforts by Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) Project and juvenile justice professionals in the United States. The purpose is to assist juvenile justice professionals in implementing balanced and restorative justice practices in their work. The BARJ mission includes attention to each of three components: accountability, competency development, and community safety. For each of these three components, the report outlines key characteristics of programmatic approaches. The report presents practical information and tools to enable juvenile justice professionals to implement the BARJ philosophy and mission. The report is a guide to the BARJ model not a prescription. Within the general principles and values of restorative justice, implementation may vary based on local resources, traditions, and cultures.

Chilliwack Restorative Justice and Youth and Diversion Association. Operations manual

The Chilliwack Restorative Justice and Youth Diversion Association (CRJYDA) is a nonprofit organization in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. Begun in the late 1990s and rooted in restorative justice principles and practices, it offers diversionary alternatives to the court system for first-time young offenders. This manual details its operations. Following an introduction to the organization and its rules for restorative practice, the manual provides extensive, practical information on program administration. Sections cover the following information: CRJYDA's mission statement and purposes; CRJYD's formation as a nonprofit organization; organization and operation of the Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers; the nature and functioning of the diversion process; and a description of CRJYDA's collaboration with community organizations and other resources. Numerous appendices add more detailed information in areas such as these: resource list of restorative justice models; organizational by-laws; sample budget; organizational chart; sample partnership contracts and agreements; statistics; a volunteer application form; a youth alternative measures form; and a glossary of terms.

Gerard, Gena. A Primer for Developing a Community-Based Restorative Justice Model.

This brief outline is intended to cover the basic steps involved in building a community-based model of restorative justice. Neighborhood organizations or similar groups who are interested in the concept of restorative justice as a way of holding low-level offenders accountable for their behavior in the community can view this "primer" as a simple guide for conceptualizing a restorative response to crime and making it operational while maximizing the participation of all those who have a stake in the process and outcome.

Gregorie, Trudy. A Road Map to Restorative Justice in Corrections

The concept of restorative justice has emerged as an approach that incorporates offender accountability, victim assistance, public safety and crime prevention. In the restorative model, crime victims, the community and offenders are all considered clients of justice processes - including corrections - thus offering crime victims and the community more active, vital roles. The involvement and interests of these three client populations become core to the planning, development, implementation and evaluation of restorative justice programs and services.

Toronto Family Group Conferencing Project. Toronto Family Group Conferencing Project: Manual

This manual was developed by the Toronto Family Group Conferencing Project. It covers the background of the project, practice issues, structural issues, and training.

Yantzi, Mark. Restorative Justice and Past Sexual Abuse - Reflection on 20 years experience with a program model

This paper will: outline the program model for REVIVE, a support/accountability program at Community Justice Initiatives (www.cjiwr.com) offering support to all persons affected by past sexual abuse; reflect on what has been learned from this involvement; describe a model of facilitated dialogue where at the instigation of the victim/survivor and after extensive preparation for all parties involved, an opportunity is available for a facilitated confrontation/dialogue between the parties. 'Community Justice Initiatives' has for more than 20 years offered support groups to persons affected by past sexual abuse. Support groups, facilitated by trained community volunteers - sometimes former group members - are offered for persons who as adults are addressing past sexual abuse. The cluster of support groups include groups for women who were sexually abused as children, groups for men who experienced childhood abuse, groups for men who have sexually offended, support groups for spouses of survivors of past abuse, and for spouses of persons who have offended. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Blood, Peta and Thorsborne, Margaret. The Challenge of Culture Change: Embedding Restorative Practice in Schools

This paper seeks to broaden the perspectives of senior and middle management and restorative practitioners around what restorative practice in schools can look like; and to present some practical guidelines which represent a strategic approach to the implementation of restorative practices, so that they "stick" -- that is, become sustainable. It represents a work in progress and the authors encourage readers to engage with them in ongoing dialogue about the issues (we don't know all the answers yet!) and share with us their butterfly (successes) and bullfrog (failures) stories, in meeting the challenges of developing a restorative culture within schools (Zehr, 2003). It should be noted that there is an overwhelming body of literature (Hargreaves, 1997, Fullan, 2000 etc) dealing with school reform, effective teaching, classroom and behaviour management practice and that this paper focuses on the implementation of restorative practice in schools. (excerpt)

Ouellette, Melissa. Who Owns Restorative Justice? Exploratory Interviews with Restorative Justice Practitioners

Restorative justice challenges the notion that the effects of crime can only be resolved by professionals, and represents a shift in power away from state control to community control of justice issues. As a different way of doing justice vying for a place in relation to the mainstream justice system, tensions exist between theory and practice. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with people who occupy various roles in the field of restorative justice in the Lower Mainland explored how different actors see the tensions being addressed, exacerbated and/or resolved. The sources of tension included questions regarding (1) what is classified as restorative justice and if standards should be adopted; (2) who gets to provide restorative services; (3) which service providers get to take which types of cases and at what stage in the justice process, and (4) the lack of adequate, stable sources of funding for restorative justice programs. Author's abstract.

Statement of Restorative Justice Principles in Schools

Lyndsey Sharp,a researcher with the Restorative Justice Consortium in London provides an overview of the development of the Consortium's Statement of Restorative Justice Principles as Applied in the School Setting.

Immarigeon, Russ. Reconciliation between victims and imprisoned offenders: Program models and issues.

Compiled by Russ Immarigeon for the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Office on Crime and Justice, this report is intended to give people useful information for either starting a victim-offender mediation program or setting up a specific victim-offender meeting at a local jail or prison. Immarigeon begins by presenting an overview of victim-offender reconciliation programs, both in the community and in penal institutions. This leads to descriptions of models of jail- and prison-based programs that address victim-offender concerns. Then he identifies critical issues to consider in planning such programs or meetings. At the end is a bibliography of resource materials and a list of resource centers.

Raye, Barbara. How Do Culture, Class and Gender Affect the Practice of Restorative Justice? (Part 2)

Barbara Raye observes that in the United States people of color -- especially African Americans and Native Americans -- are disproportionately arrested, charged, convicted, and incarcerated. At the same time, the number of people of color working in the field, leading criminal justice services agencies, or receiving services is under-represented. In this context, Raye further asserts that the values and practices designated as "restorative justice" by "religious, peace-driven, middle class and educated white men of the early 1960s" are actually rooted deeply in indigenous and feminine experiences and contexts. Her fundamental point is that biases of gender, race, and class affect indigenous and feminine sub-cultures within the larger Western worldview. Therefore, to address these biases with respect to indigenous people and women in restorative justice, three areas need attention: (1) selection and recruitment of facilitators; (2) referral of cases; and (3) practitioners' understanding of crime and effects of crime.

Crawford, Donna and Bodine, Richard. Conflict Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing Programs in Schools, Youth-Serving Organizations, and Community and Juvenile Justice Settings; Program Report

The first chapter defines conflict as a natural condition and examines the origins of conflict, responses to conflict, and the outcomes of those responses. It presents the essential principles, foundation abilities, and problemsolving processes of conflict resolution; discusses the elements of a successful conflict resolution program; and introduces four approaches to implementing conflict resolution education. Each of the next four chapters discusses one of these four approaches and presents examples of programs that use the approach. One chapter describes an approach to conflict resolution education characterized by devoting a specific time to teaching the foundation abilities, principles, and one or more of the problemsolving processes of conflict resolution in a separate course or distinct curriculum. Another chapter describes an approach in which selected, trained individuals provide neutral third-party facilitation in conflict resolution. A chapter presents an approach that incorporates conflict resolution education into the core subject areas of the curriculum and into classroom management strategies, and another chapter presents a comprehensive whole-school methodology that builds on the previous approach. The next two chapters address conflict resolution education in settings other than traditional schools, including juvenile justice and community settings. The final three chapters address more overarching topics: conflict resolution research and evaluation; a developmental sequence of behavioral expectations in conflict resolution; and the process of developing, implementing, and sustaining a conflict resolution program. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Groh, Arlene. A Healing Approach to Elder Abuse and Mistreatment: The Restorative Approaches to Elder Abuse Project.

Elder abuse is often referred to as a hidden crime, writes Arlene Groh. This fact led to the development of the Restorative Justice Approaches to Elder Abuse Project in the Waterloo region of Ontario. The aim of the project is to seek a healing, safe approach to elder abuse. This document covers key elements in the development, operation, and evaluation of that project. Contents of the manual include the following: the project mission; the nature, causes, and prevalence of elder abuse; restorative justice and elder abuse; project development; integration of restorative justice into the project's approach to elder abuse; the case process; project evaluation; the future of the project; and appendices relevant to the operation of the elder abuse project.

San Joaquin County Human Services Agency. Family Conferencing Process: Practice and Procedure Guide

The Human Services Agency of San Joaquin County in California employs a family conferencing model to improve the care and protection of children. This approach functions by building partnerships between the family, community, and government. The San Joaquin family conferencing model roots in the belief that the best care and protection for children can be achieved by joining the strengths of families with community and agency support systems. This document provides a guide for family conferencing practice and procedure. The guide contains a history of this approach in San Joaquin County; a definition of what is meant by xe2x80x9cfamilyxe2x80x9d and who constitutes a childxe2x80x99s family; the importance of the family; principles of family conferencing; the referral process; the family conferencing process; and the roles of participants.

Stanislaus County Child Protective Services. Family Decision Meeting Program, Stanislaus County Child Welfare Services Handbook

In 1996 Child Protective Services determined that Stanislaus County (California) had several hundred children in foster care. In this situation too many parents were failing to reunite with their children. Administrators of child welfare services decided to change the way social work was practiced with families. Inasmuch as removing children from their homes and families could be as detrimental as maltreatment at home, Child Protective Services adopted a philosophy and practice called xe2x80x9cfamily decision meetings.xe2x80x9d A family decision meeting brings together family, extended family, friends, community persons, and service providers to discuss and plan for the care and safety of children in the family. This document is the handbook for the family decision meeting program. It provides an overview of the philosophy and program of family decision meetings, referral procedures, criteria for deciding upon a family decision meeting, the meeting process, services provided under this program, and training.

Victim Offender Mediation Association. Recommended Ethical Guidelines

Guidelines developed for the conduct of mediators by the Victim Offender Mediation Association.