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Rojas Mendoza, Dionisio. 2006. Design of a Restorative Justice Process: Inter-Sectoral Commission for Life and Human RIghts. Barrancabermeja (Colombia). Eastern Mennonite University. Conflict Transformation Program.

This article discusses the possible design of a restorative response to mass violence in Colombia.

Developing Restorative Juvenile Justice in Peru

In Peru, the majority of juvenile offenders are incarcerated, even in cases of petty crime, with close to 68% having sentences of three years or less. This is true despite the inclusion of alternative sentences such as community service and remission of the sentence in the penal code. To address this reality the Switzerland-based NGO Terre des Hommes designed and implemented a pilot project called Justicia Para Crecer to introduce concepts of restorative justice. Partners in this project include the Peruvian NGO Encuentros –Casa de la Juventud and different government entities in the areas of el Agostino and Chiclayo.

Price, Marty D.. Restorative Justice Speaking Tour in Argentina and Chile.

For two weeks this past May, I visited Argentina and Chile to speak about restorative justice at the request of each country’s Ministry of Justice. As a pioneer in the restorative justice field, I felt confident that I could provide valuable expertise, experience and resources. But, I quickly realized there was more to present than one person could bring. (excerpt)

Sarkin, Jeremy and Daly, Erin. Too Many Questions, Too Few Answers: Reconciliation in Transitional Societies

With a large number of countries in recent years seeking to make the transition from a period of violence and human rights violations to a more democratic and stable society, the language of reconciliation has become prominent; the pursuit of reconciliation has been touted as the cure for the ills and divisiveness in each country. Jeremy Sarkin and Erin Daly acknowledge both the prevalence and the appeal of the idea of reconciliation. At the same time, they believe that there are serious questions and issues connected with the notion and pursuit of reconciliation, and that these questions and issues are not being adequately considered and addressed by policy makers. Hence, Sarkin and Daly explore certain questions that confront an incipient government in promoting reconciliation as the cure for ills in a transitional society. They first raise broad conceptual questions about reconciliation. This leads to discussion of historical factors fostering reconciliation initiatives, the effectiveness of the pursuit of reconciliation, and mechanisms by which nations pursue reconciliation.

Doyle, Kelly R. Transformative Mediation: Confessions of a Facilitative Mediator and Civil Litigator with Evaluative Tendencies

The purpose of this paper was to discuss whether we need to change the methods we use to mediate to accommodate the concepts and lessons learned from transformative justice and transformative mediation. Each are relatively new concepts and not generally known and accepted in the civil litigation community. Hence, the threshold task is to describe each to the uninitiated and to discuss in particular the potential application of transformative mediation to non-family civil disputes. The goal is to place each squarely on the radar screen of civil litigators. (excerpt)

Acorn, Annalise. Compulsory Compassion: A Critique of Restorative Justice

At first, writes Annalise Acorn, restorative justice ideas and practices appealed greatly to her. She had deep misgivings about criminal justice as commonly conceived and applied; especially, as she puts it, with criminal justice as a “conflation of justice with punishment as imprisonment – or as any pure infliction of suffering on the wrongdoer.�? Restorative justice seemed so much more right and worthy as an approach to wrongdoing and injustice. Eventually, however, doubts about restorative justice began to chip away at her initially positive assessment. Her growing skepticism came from several sources, including reflection on her own personal experience, her sense of moral intuition, discomfort with what she perceived as a kind of wishful-thinking “romanticism�? in restorative justice perspectives, and analysis of restorative justice concepts. With all of this in mind, Acorn seeks in this book a critical examination of restorative justice. In particular, she critically assesses the claim that restorative justice can successfully bring together the values of love and compassion, on the one hand, and the requirement of justice and accountability, on the other hand. Toward these ends, she discusses the seductive vision of restorative justice; justice and the teachableness of universal love; restorative optimism; sentimental justice; love and justice; compulsory compassion; and restorative utopias.

Gustafson, Dave. A Story of Victim Offender Mediation

Fraser Region Community Justice Initiative Association (CJI) provides conflict resolution services with a restorative justice focus for a variety of settings in British Columbia including the criminal justice system. David L. Gustafson, the co-director, provides the following story of one of their clients. The story originally appeared in CJIxe2x80x99s 2003-2004 Annual Report.

Valji, Nahla. Race, Citizenship and Violence in Transitioning Societies: A Guatemalan case study

The CSVR Race and Citizenship in Transition Series has set out to examine the ways in which ordinary citizens engage with issues of race and citizenship in a post-transitional society, ten years into the country's democracy. The goal of the project is to understand the long-term impact of structures, in particular truth commissions, as well as the model or type of transition and democracy, in order to examine the impact these elements have on violence and racial identity during times of transition. In addition to looking at South Africa's own experience (cf. reports in the Race and Citizenship in Transition Series), the series incorporates an in-depth examination of these same elements during the course of Guatemala's transition to democracy. The following paper focuses on race, and the nature of negotiated transitions, as well as the thin line between political and social conflict; a line which is often blurred during democratic transitions. In many ways, Guatemala reflects important similarities with South Africa. (excerpt)

Lee, Celine. The Power of Engaging Us All In Dialogue

A restorative justice practitioner in British Columbia, Celine Lee has experienced the criminal justice system in a number of ways: victim; victim support worker; victim-offender mediation participant; and criminal justice worker. In all these experiences, she claims she has grown all the more convinced of the power of dialogue. Lee recounts in brief her own journey from being a co-victim after the murders of her mother and sister, including ways in which a victim-offender mediation process helped her deal with the crimes.

Driedger, Otto. Faith Communities Respond to Restorative Justice

While Otto Driedger refers to faith communities "responding" to restorative justice, he contends that they really are not "responding." Rather, faith communities actually gave rise to the modern restorative justice movement. From this perspective, Driedger goes on to point out ways in which churches are involved in applying restorative ideas and practices to crime victims, offenders, and communities. In particular he highlights victim assistance by the Mennonite Central Committee, a video by the Presbyterian Church USA on restorative responses to vandalism and other crimes, a victim offender reconciliation program run by Community Justice Initiatives in British Columbia, community-based chaplaincies for offenders on re-entry, and other church-based structures for accountability and support for ex-offenders.

Haarala, Lloyd. A Community Within

A member and elder of the Anishinaabe of N.W. Angle Band #33, Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Lloyd Haarala is also the native spiritual advisor at William Head Institution, a correctional facility in British Columbia. He tells in this article of a recent Spring Fasting opportunity at William Head Institution. A former inmate nearing the end of his Warrant Expiry Date asked and received permission to live in the facility for the week of fasting to help current inmates. Haarala explains how this exemplifies the value held among First Nations’ people of giving back to their communities. This emphasis on community, also found in restorative justice, is as much a matter of the heart as the head, says Haarala. Further, restorative justice as the importance of family and community should be the norm for society in general, not only when crime or wrongdoing occur.

Juma, Monica Kathina. Unveiling Women as Pillars of Peace Peace Building in Communities Fractured by Conflict in Kenya. An Interim Report.

This monograph presents the experiences of peace workers, called hereafter “pillars of peace,� in initiating and nurturing peace in post conflict situations in Kenya. It goes beyond the familiar images of women as victims of war and documents the many ways women contribute to rebuilding communities fractured by conflict. (excerpt)

Handy, Jim. Reimagining Guatemala: Reconciliation and the Indigenous Accords.

In this discussion, I explore both why this alteration [in Guatemala conceptions of society] is necessary and suggest why it is so difficult. To do the former, I explore briefly the history of marginalization of the Maya in Guatemala and how the marginalization was central to the non-Maya conception of the Guatemalan nation. I will then turn to a discussion of the ways in which the marginalization was challenged in the latter half of the twentieth century and how that challenge helped precipitate the worst period of violence. This will be followed by a discussion of the ways in which Mayan revitalization after 1985 helped lead to the ending of the civil war and the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996. I will examine the conflicts that have emerged in Guatemala concerning indigenous rights. Finally, I will explore briefly the disappointing history of what has been done since the signing of the accords, focusing on the recent failed attempt to constitutional change. (excerpt)

Drumbl, Mark A. Rights, Culture, and Crime: The Role of Rule of Law for the Women of Afghanistan.

This Article explores the role of rule of law in redressing crimes and human rights abuses committed against the women of Afghanistan. Mainstream discourse approaches the situation binarily, obliging women to choose between international and often distant human rights, on the one hand, or proximate cultural/religious norms, on the other, in order to adjudicate gender crimes. This can lead either to externalized justice or, in the case of the implementation of Afghan local law, to renewed victimization of women in the name of redressing abuses suffered by other women. Local law in Afghanistan is reflected in codes such as the Pashtunwali. The Pashtunwali consists of a blend of custom and practice that emerges from a context of embedded conflict and is filtered through an Islamist lens. The Pashtunwali propounds a restorative approach to human rights abuse in which the abuse is rectified when the family of the abuser transfers money, goods, animals or, preferentially, young girls or women to the family of the abused. Drawing from recent literature on law and culture, this Article posits that custom and culture in Afghanistan as operationalized through the Pashtunwali are politically contingent (and at the moment defined by patriarchal elites) instead of statically or immutably oppressive to women. If thoughtfully constructed, transitional justice institutions can play an important collective role that transcends the adjudication of individual guilt or innocence. They can pluralize the number of domestic actors that contribute to the definition of customary and cultural norms. This implies that transitional criminal interventions could play a democratizing role insofar as they could advance claims by all members of local communities to a right to involve themselves in the formulation of customary law. In the end, this Article links transitional criminal justice to the innovative conception of freedom within culture, instead of freedom from culture. Author’s abstract.

George, Bonnie. Wet'suwet'en Unlocking Aboriginal Justice

According to Bonnie George, in response to general dissatisfaction with the western judicial system, the Unlocking Aboriginal Justice Program was developed and implemented in 1992 in the Wet’suwet’en territory of northwest British Columbia. Funding is shared by the federal government and the provincial government. The focus is not on creating a new system but of uncovering the traditional laws and practices of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and having them recognized. To present the project, George describes the social structure of the Wet’suwet’en, the goals and operation of the program, and the uniqueness of the program.

Bargen, Catherine. Safe Schools: Strategies for Changing a Culture

Teachers, administrators, and communities are looking for ways to make their schools "safe schools." What, asks Catherine Bargen, does a safe school look like? To make schools safe, many programs are being tried, yet incidents of aggression and violence continue to disrupt and disturb school communities. Bargen maintains that something comprehensive must be done that will encourage a shift in the culture of the way that conflict and punishment are viewed. In this regard, she relates the experience of School District #35 in Langley, British Columbia, and its partnership with Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives to explore how restorative justice principles might affect culture change throughout the local school system.

Parker, Lynette. Encountering Restorativeness: Reflections from Colombia

Restorative justice concepts are ingrained in us as profoundly just ways to deal with conflict. Lynette Parker writes of learning this truth again during conversations with several people in Colombia.

Bargen, Catherine. Safe Schools: Strategies for Changing a Culture

Given trends of increasing violence and harassment in schools, many teachers, administrators, and communities are looking for new, more effective ways of dealing with school conflict. Various policies and programs are being tried - for example, zero tolerance policies, anti-bullying programs, and more - to make schools into "safe schools." Yet all of this raises questions about what a safe school looks like and how it is attained. In this context, Catherine Bargen highlights School District #35 in Langley, British Columbia, a system pursuing safe schools through the application of restorative justice principles to school discipline issues.

Hillian, Douglas and Hackler, Jim and Reitsma-Street, Marge and Hillian, Douglas. Conferencing in the Youth Criminal Justice Act of Canada: Policy Developments in British Columbia

Drawing on principles and practices from the diversion and restorative justice movements in juvenile justice, conferencing is the process that brings selected people together to give advice on decisions regarding the response to a harmful, illegal act committed by a juvenile. The YCJA encourages but does not require conferencing. Conferencing policies and guidelines were drafted within the Youth Justice Policy and Program Support branch of the British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development, and these policies were implemented to coincide with passage of the YCJA on April 1, 2003. This discussion of conferencing in British Columbia focuses on six types of conferences: multidisciplinary or integrated management conferences, which involve a meeting of all parties who are working with a juvenile and his/her family for the purpose of developing an integrated service plan; family group restorative conferences, which are designed to bring together a juvenile offender and the person harmed by the offense, along with their respective families and supporters, as well as other key people affected by the harm and relevant community residents; community accountability programs, which are neighborhood programs that accept referrals from police to resolve relatively minor offenses as an alternative to court proceedings; youth justice committees, which act as citizen advisory committees to the youth court; victim-offender reconciliation programs, which bring victims and offenders together with a trained mediator to bring resolution to an offense; and Aboriginal sentencing circles, which involve representatives of the community, the victim, the offender, supporters, and respected elders meeting to determine how an offense should be resolved. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Pujante Mangiola, Ignacio Javier. Mediación víctima- ofensor como herramienta para la justicia restauradora.

En los últimos años ha adquirido gran notoriedad la expresión "Métodos Alternativos de Resolución de Conflictos". Tratando de dar otro enfoque sobre el tema en cuestión, con la intención de definir, o al menos delinear, una de las tantas vetas que alrededor de los Métodos Alternativos de Resolución de Conflictos se van abriendo, mediante el presente trabajo, en lugar de desarrollar en general los Métodos Alternativos de Resolución de Conflictos (o alguno de ellos en particular), pretendo penetrar en una de sus vertientes, quizás la menos explorada de ellas y a la vez la que más intriga ha despertado en el exterior (y en parte en nuestro país). Todo ello sin perjuicio de hacer una obligada explicación de los Métodos Alternativos de Resolución de Conflictos en general, y también en particular, para poder individualizar el ámbito dentro del cual se encuentra la materia objeto del presente trabajo. Me estoy refiriendo a la aplicación de la mediación en el ámbito de ciertos actos humanos que por su trascendencia están tipificados como infracciones, contravenciones, faltas y/o delitos, o que sin estar tipificados como tales albergan a una víctima y a un ofensor, ambos sujetos ubicados en extremos opuestos de la ecuación resultante de dicho acto humano. A lo largo de éste trabajo se irá explicando la función de dicho método, demostrando mediante la propia explicación ofrecida, la viabilidad de la aplicación de los Métodos Alternativos de Resolución de Conflictos en la búsqueda de una solución “justa� para ciertos actos infraccionales. En síntesis, la aplicación lo que se ha dado en llamar “justicia restauradora�, a través de la mediación víctima-ofensor. Resumen del autor.