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McDonald, J and Moore, David B and Hyndman, M and O'Connell, Terry and Hyndman, M and Thorsborne, M and O'Connell, Terry and Moore, David B and Hyndman, M. Family Group Conferencing: A Training Manual

This training manual was developed by the Australian innovators of the Wagga model of community conferences/family group conferences in New South Wales. This loose-leaf booklet provides a brief history, theory and philosophy of community conferences. Presented are explanations of receiving case details, developing a conference plan, contacting participants, arranging the conference, the conference process, conference resolutions, and techniques of conferencing coordination. Additional materials include mediation versus conferencing, the coordinator's guide with sample forms, and the coordinators checklist. Case studies, training transparency masters, and additional readings are appended.

McDonald, J and Moore, David B. Real Justice Training Manual: Coordinating Family Group Conferences

This training manual was developed for use with a three-day Real Justice Training workshop. The manual introduces the history family group conferences (FGCs). The theories of why FGCs work so well, and the philosophy of restorative justice underlying the practice are presented. The role of conference coordinators and appropriate incidents for conferencing are discussed. The steps of conference preparation including contacting participants are explained. The conference process and resolution process are presented along with recommended coordination techniques. Included are necessary contact, conference, and evaluation forms, the conference coordinator's "script", and a glossary of terms.

Minnesota Department of Corrections. Facilitating restorative group conferences. Trainer's guide lesson 6: Next steps.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections has produced a set of practical materials to guide people who are training others in facilitation of restorative group conferences. Lesson 6 deals with the next steps that trained facilitators take. Subjects covered by this lesson include the following: lesson objectives; identification and discussion of the next steps, including timetables and procedures (e.g., apprenticeship; additional training; screening process; facilitator agreements/contracts; schedules, calendars, dates, and reimbursement procedures); practice at "talking circles"; and evaluation of the training.

Minnesota Department of Corrections. Facilitating restorative group conferences. Trainer’s guide Notes to trainers.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections has produced a set of practical materials to guide people who are training others in facilitation of restorative group conferences. The “Notes to Trainersâ€? part introduces the Facilitating Restorative Group Conferences curriculum to trainers. Subjects covered by this part include the following: an introduction to the purpose and use of the curriculum and to restorative group conferencing; selection of trainers; suggestions about physical facilities, equipment, and food for the training; an overview of the components of the Trainer’s Guide; target participants; and a sample agenda.

Howell, James C. Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders.

The detailed strategy rests on five principles: (1) strengthen the family in its responsibility to instill moral values; (2) support core social institutions in their roles with youth; (3) promote delinquency prevention; (4) initiate immediate and effective action in response to delinquency; and (5) identify and control the small group of serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. This guide provides a blueprint for communities and organizations to apply this strategy.

Minnesota Department of Corrections. Facilitating restorative group conferences. Participant's guide lesson 6: Next steps.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections has produced a set of practical materials for people training to facilitate restorative group conferences. Lesson 6 deals with the next steps that trained facilitators take. Subjects covered by this lesson include the following: identification and discussion of the next steps, including timetables and procedures for apprenticeship and facilitation; practice at "talking circles" for reflection and planning; and evaluation of the training. This lesson is supplemented by other lessons and related materials, also produced by the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Department of Health and Human Services. Guidelines for community conferences

This manual presents principles and practices that provide a framework for the development and operation of a community conference, a practice based in restorative justice. A number of topics are addressed clearly and succinctly: the role of conference facilitators; the conference process; the role of the youth justice unit of Tasmania’s Department of Health and Human Services; the participation of the victim, the youth offender, and the youth’s parents or guardians; sanctions; confidentiality; reporting on conference outcomes; and referral to other services. An appendix contains many forms useful for community conferences.

Burford, Gale and Pennell, Joan and MacLeod, Susan and Pennell, Joan. Manual for coordinators and communities: The organization and practice of family group decision making

The authors of this manual intend it for community or government groups who are interested in instituting family group conferences, and for individuals who will be coordinating or participating in family group conferences. Originally written with respect to the specific legislative, social, and economic context of Newfoundland, the manual is nevertheless useful to a wider audience of interested people and groups. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the definition and purpose of the family group conference, effective implementation of a conference, and its key stages and elements. Chapter 2 deals with community and project development, including research, evaluation, and follow up. Chapter 3 surveys referrals to family group conferencing. In Chapters 4, 5, and 6, the authors detail preparations for a conference, conduct of a conference, and post-conference activities. Chapter 7 contains a sample family group plan. Several appendices cover mission and philosophy statements, roles of staff and related groups, measures to ensure safety, and a checklist for preparations for a family group conference.

Czwartosz, Elzbieta. Awareness of RJ among lawyers in Poland (abstract).

The aim of the study that will be presented was to diagnose the level of knowledge of RJ and mediation procedures among lawyers (including practitioners like judges, prosecutors and future lawyers-students). The subject of our interest was how the respondents assessed advantages, restrictions and dangers connected with implementing mediation into the criminal law system. The study consisted of three aspects: 1) The way of understanding the idea of RJ, i.e. presumptions concerning the model of RJ, knowledge of consequences of new law order, knowledge of law settlements concerning the application of mediation. 2) Attitudes towards the institution of mediation in the community of lawyers, beliefs concerning efficacy of mediation in penal conflicts and reasoning for its application in different phases of the trial process. 3) Preferred model of conducting mediation in court practice: expectations connected with the role and function of mediator, beliefs concerning the reasoning of mediation application in certain types of penal conflicts, views concerning criteria for the selection of cases for mediation. Author's abstract.

Petterson, Gordon. How to enable prosecutors and judges to make use of RJ practice in their work. The results of the AGIS project on the training of legal practitioners in RJ.

It is clear that in practice the success of mediation programmes in most European countries depends entirely on the co-operation of legal practitioners. This co-operation is important for the selection and referral of suitable cases, for taking into account the results of mediation and for safeguarding the necessary legal rights of the parties Is it possible to develop a short training programme for legal professionals that could have impact on their knowledge, skills and attitudes? Is it possible that a short training programme could help prosecutor and judges start seeing mediation as an option and know how to integrate it into their daily work? (excerpt)

Lyon, Ben. Training and accreditation; approaches to the development of best practice and regulation of practice (abstract).

This presentation will explore the development of a common approach to best practice, training and accreditation in England and Wales. The Government’s position expressed in the strategy document published last year and the work that has taken place since to develop an agreed approach to best practice, covering both mediation and conferencing approaches will be set out as well as the challenges that this has presented in terms of the different perspectives and traditions of the two approaches coming together. Then it will be discussed how these agreed best practice standards will be translated into national occupational standards and accredited awards open to practitioners in any professional or voluntary setting to achieve, and how the establishment of a new professional association for restorative practitioners could have an important role in future in licensing practitioners. Then the discussion will be opened up to ask people in other countries how they have taken forward regulation of the training and accreditation in other countries. In the UK we are likely to take quite a deregulated approach – i.e. that anyone in any professional field can become a practitioner, and that anyone can train practitioners, but they must then prove their competence on-the-job and get a recognised award to become members of the professional association. But we are aware that other countries have approached this very differently and it would be good to discuss those different approaches. Author's abstract.

Kearney, Niall. Introduction to and first results of the AGIS project on the training of mediators and facilitators (abstract).

In the year 2003, the European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice succeeded in getting funding from the European Commission, under its AGIS Programme, to run a project entitled "Working towards the creation of European training models for practitioners and legal practitioners in relation to restorative justice practices." Part of this project consisted in trying to obtain more information concerning the state of affairs of the training of mediators in criminal matters. A group of experienced trainers coming from 11 different European countries had the opportunity to meet twice. They exchanged information on the training models that they used, and compared the models. They also discussed the desirability of developing European standards for training mediators. The meetings resulted in the drafting of recommendations for the training of mediators. Other initiatives to work together in the future were taken as well. Author's abstract.

Gutling, Bernd-Uwe and Semper, Anja. Mediation in schools "MeinS" (abstract).

The presenters will show how victim-offender mediation works in schools. They will discuss the training of school mediators and the rules for the mediation practice. They will show a video (11 minutes) developed with 13-year old children in a school in Oldenburg [Germany]. This video shows the different steps of the development of conflicts in schools and how they can be solved by means of mediation. Authors' abstract.

Paus, Karen Kristin. Volunteer or professional mediators.

Through my presentation in this workshop I wish to outline some issues for debate regarding the choice between using laymen or professionals as mediators between victim and offender. What are the benefits and strengths and what might be weaknesses i.e. regarding legal safeguards etc. By using the Norwegian model as a background for my presentation focus will be towards laymen as mediators. I can already admit that I think the choice of using laymen is a good one, but both systems do in my opinion hold dilemmas that need to be addressed. (excerpt)

Robinson, Betty. Volunteering for my community.

When considering the issues for volunteering, the three main topics for discussion were: - 1. COST EFFECTIVENESS OF VOLUNTEERS 2. VOLUNTEER AND ORGANISATION EXPECTATIONS 3. DO VOLUNTEERS REDUCE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES? (excerpt)

Montanez, Joe and Ruth-Heffelbower, Duane. Victim Offender Mediation Refusals: A study of mediator perceptions

Restorative Justice has been described as a way to bring the victim and offender together to promote a better understanding of the consequences of the crime and healing for the victim and community (Gerard, 1996, p.3). With this in mind, the researcher conducted a quantitative random study of why mediation refusals occur. The researcher interviewed 45 Victim Offender Reconciliation Program mediators who had mediated cases between 2001 and 2003. It is the hope of VORP and the researcher that the findings in this study will allow VORP to become more successful at obtaining mediation agreements. The literature found within this paper suggests that the success of mediation is determined by the knowledge of the mediator. We hope that the use of the instrument designed for this study will allow us to determine the areas that may present the most problems for mediators. Victim-offender dialogue in a mediation setting is the primary tool used to bring about restorative justice. A review of the literature on restorative justice and mediation suggests many reasons for the success or failure of the mediation process. Factors shown to contribute to successful mediation include: 1) the mediator’s style, 2) the ability of the mediator to show empathy, and 3) the mediator’s competence. The mediation process, on the other hand, may be unsuccessful due to some of the following reasons: 1) if there is unequal power between the parties involved, 2) if there is a low motivation to come to an agreement, and 3) if there is no follow-up of the offender to make sure he/she complies with agreement that he/she has made. VORP of the Central Valley has an over 99% agreement rate once the parties agree to mediate. The research process here will utilize a case analysis to examine reasons for success or failure during the lead-in to the mediation process in the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program in Fresno, California. (excerpt)

Office for Criminal Justice Reform. Restorative justice: Helping to meet local needs. Web-based guidance

Resource material developed for local Criminal Justice Agencies by the National Criminal Justice Board in the UK.

Kecskemeti, Maria. Restorative Conversations - Is changing ways of speaking enough to change relationships, discipline systems and school cultures?

Ways of speaking that call for achieving greater control by teachers over students as a response to problems and that require students to be more docile in the management of their behaviours are among the most readily available relationship and behaviour management practices that are used in schools. Though most schools try to foster a climate of inclusion on a policy level, there are many schools that struggle to make their discipline and behaviour management system work. In this paper I propose that ideas from positioning theory have potential for supporting the development of restorative behaviour management practices. I argue that such ideas should first be applied to the many daily conversations that teachers and students have with each other. I will show, through excerpts from conversations, how calling on positioning theory could produce ways of speaking that are restorative of relationships. I suggest that such ways of speaking can not only enrich the repertoire of restorative practices but they can form the basis of behaviour management strategies and discipline systems that are based on respect and foster a culture of inclusion. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Jenner, Kerry. The Person of The Facilitator in a Restorative Justice Conference - what are we are trying to achieve and what of ourselves do we bring?

There is a lot written and spoken about the process of running restorative conferences. However there are some thinkings that rarely gets spoken. Some of these things concern the person of the facilitator and what it is that (s)he brings of her/himself that contibutes to the desired outcome. Those of us who are engaged in this work know that there is input in the style of questioning, the manner, tone and demeanor of the facilitator - but is there more? How does the life lived and therefore beliefs and values we hold impact on our work? Can we ethically adhere to any discourse that involves the idea that we are disinterested and in no way involved in the process other than as a tool? This paper begins a discussion about what it is that may be unspoken about such issues as a)the thoughts and feelings experienced by a facilitator and b) the motivation a facilitator may have for being involved in this work.It also looks briefly at experiences and feelings of success and what it is that might have enabled this to have occurred, given that there are multiple discourses of success and mulitple discourses about the way these may manifest.This paper touches on ethical and moral aspects of the work of the facilitator in a field where process can be read verbatim from a text or even learned.Given that this discussion has grown from a context of restorative conferencing in schools, the question of investigation (or not) of these issues begs to be asked in the light of wider discussion about student engagement in education and behaviour management. What is it that we are really doing in the running of restorative conferences and how are we doing this, given that not one of us is a clean slate?! Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Bowen, Helen. Reluctance to restore - the lawyer's role in the New Zealand restorative process

Much of what lawyers and judges do has an impact on the psychological well-being or emotional life of persons affected by the criminal justice system. A lawyer can be a prime initiator of a restorative process. The lawyer can map out the range of alternatives which involve a trial or a restorative process where there can be acceptance of responsibility. The lawyer can advise on the weaknesses or strengths of the prosecution case and the trial risk for the offender. Where the lawyer advises a poor prognosis, the prospect of a guilty plea and therefore, a restorative process, arises. In advising an offender about restorative justice, it follows that the lawyer can have the confidence that the Judge will use restorative values at sentence. This is not always the case. Without further education of Judges and lawyers about the restorative option, opportunities for restorative justice are not explored. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.