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Finding Release in Prison: A Victim’s Story

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.

Van Sluytman, Margot. 2008. Finding a Song -- New Narrative After Murder

Margot Van Sluytman describes how the murder of her father affected her life and the healing that came through meeting with the offender in the murder.

Real People, Real Stories: Victims Face Fear and Find Healing in Prison

The Sycamore Tree Project® (STP) brings indirect victims and offenders together for a series of in-prison meetings to discuss crime and its impact. Recently, the Australian Broadcasting Company radio programme "Street Stories" followed two victims as they participated in a STP course in Acacia Prison. Through the interview, the victims tell their stories of victimization and describe the myriad of emotions and thoughts they experienced in the programme.

Hunt, Ronald. Conferencing a Serious Arson Case

The author, on the Police Services Board in Renfrew, Ontario (Canada), relates the details of dealing with an arson offense caused by a youth. The offense was dealt with in a family group conference using the conference script from Real Justice. Participants included the youth, his family, a lawyer, and representatives from the school damaged by the arson. The outcomes of the process are included in this paper.

Price, Marty D.. Restorative Justice for Juvenile Delinquency: The Case of the Interstate 205 Rock-Throwers

This is the recounting of a juvenile offense mediation case, conducted by a Juvenile Court-sponsored Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) near Portland, Oregon. The offense terrorized many of the victims, causing minor injuries and substantial property damage. The results of the mediation illustrate the healing and rehabilitative potential of this process for victims, for offenders and for the community.

Patterson, Mary. From Stealing to Healing: A School's Participation in a Transformative Justice Process

A coordinator of a school conflict resolution program, the author relates an experience using Family Group Conferencing to deal with theft by a teenager from a home where he did babysitting.

Wachtel, Ted. Real Justice. How we can revolutionize our response to wrongdoing

Ted Wachtel and his wife, Susan, founded the Community Service Foundation in Pennsylvania – a school and counseling agency for troubled youth – and REAL Justice – a program employing conferencing to bring together young offenders, victims, their respective supporters, and community members to try to resolve the harm of crime. Wachtel describes the origins, purposes, and processes of these programs for troubled young people. To illustrate key ideas and their development and implementation, he recounts his encounters with those who are pursuing similar efforts in New Zealand and Australia and elsewhere; and he relates real stories of youth crimes, their effects on individuals and communities, and attempts to deal with those crimes either through formal juvenile justice processes or through community-based informal processes such as conferencing. Particular topics discussed or illustrated in his book are conferencing, restorative justice, shame, the role and needs of victims, community, corrections, accountability for offenders, and the roles of government and the police in informal justice processes. Wachtel also advocates the extension of conferencing to spheres other than criminal justice, including schools, the workplace, and more.

Nelson, Tanya. Meeting Offenders: How a Restorative Justice Program Changed a Robbery Victim’s Life.

On September 4, 1999, the way I view the world changed forever when I was robbed at gunpoint at an ATM. Here I am, almost seven years later, a changed person, excited to talk about what restorative justice and the victim-offender conferencing have done for me. To my own surprise, I have found restorative justice has power to take away much of the anger I felt, empower me, and ultimately give me a sense of peace I never thought I’d have again. (excerpt)

Stevenson, John and Mills, David. Resolving Neighbour Disputes and Tackling: Anti-Social Behaviour: Three cases studies examine the recent success.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Unit at Places for People has used restorative justice in dealing with anti-social behaviour with great success.Three recent case studies are illustrated in this article. (excerpt)

Umbreit, Mark S. and Ritter, Rina. Arab Offenders Meet Jewish Victim: Restorative Family Dialogue in Israel.

A case example of restorative family dialogue involving young Arab offenders who committed an armed robbery against a Jewish victim in Israel who experienced the crime as an act of terrorism was found to be highly effective in resolving the conflict and building stronger relations between the two communities. While on a microbasis this bodes well for future relations in the region, numerous obstacles exist to widespread use of restorative justice dialogue in Israel and the occupied territories. (author’s abstract)

McClay, Alison. A Day in the Life of a Youth Conference Co-ordinator

In this brief article, a youth conference facilitator reports on activities such as returning conference reports to court and answering questions about the conferences and meeting with a young offender in preparation of a conference.

Anonymous. My Experience of Youth Conferencing

A 15-year of offender relates his experience with the Northern Ireland Youth Conferencing programme.

Derksen, Wilma L.. Have You Seen Candace? A Mother's True Story of Coping with the Murder of her Daughter

This book spans the events and learnings of one year, beginning with the day Candace disappeared and ending with the anniversary of that day. The story reveals the earnest goodwill of a supportive community, the life of an average family, the horror of the aftermath of murder and the way one family tried to cope (publisher’s description).

Zaman, Parvin. Case Example. Family Group Conference.

The following case shows how, despite social service’s initial opinion that the maternal aunt was an unsuitable carer for her niece and nephew, the FGC helped the family to prove that this was a suitable placement for the children. (extract)

Weider, Tim. Transforming Tough Kids through Circles

Tim Weider served as Interim Director for Finger Lakes Restorative Justice during the summer of 2004. A major accomplishment was securing Kamal Tipu to serve as FLRJC’s first intern and establishing a working relationship with the New York State School at Industry. Here is his story. (author's abstract).

Merritt, Midge. Circles Take Root with Single Parents

In June 2004, Midge Merritt and Janice Lester Bell participated in a Circle Keeper Training let by Kay Pranis and sponsored by Finger Lakes Restorative Justice Center. Afterwards, they established a circle at Wilson Commencement Park where Midge is a Case Manager and Janice was an intern. Here is their story. (Author's abstract)

Raim, David. Learning Circles

In the Fall of 2004, David Raim was part of a Seminar in Criminal Justice at Rochester Institute of Technology led by Dr. Thomas Castellano. Here is his story of how Circles transformed his learning experience. Author's abstract.

Mitchell, Joan. Strangers Become Allies in RJ Trainings

oan Mitchell participated in a Circle Facilitator Training in June 2004. Joan is a member of the FLRJC’s Board of Directors and recently retired from the Monroe County Probation Department. This is her story. (author's abstract).

Griffin, Jean. RJ Improves College Student Relationships

Jean Griffin is Associate Director at the Center for Student Conduct and Conflict Management Services at Rochester Institute of Technology. Here is her story about using restorative justice practices with college students. (author's abstract)

Knight, Lorrie. Creating Safe Schools with Classroom Meetings

Lorrie Knight is Dean of Students for Albion Central School District in Orleans County. Her primary responsibility is the discipline of 1200 students. Here is her story about the use of circles with children in public schools. (author's abstract)