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Umbreit, Mark S. "Juvenile Offenders Meet Their Victims: The Impact of Mediation in Albuquerque, New Mexico."

Describes the results of a program evaluation of a victim offender mediation (VOM) program in Albuquerque. Court officials, program staff, and 206 victims and juvenile offenders were interviewed. Participants in the VOM program indicated high levels of satisfaction with both the process and outcome of VOM. Offenders negotiating their own reparation agreements with victims were much more likely to comply with the restitution compared to those being ordered to pay restitution by courts.

Price, Marty D.. Restorative Justice Warmly Received in Mexico

The process of mediation is relatively new in Mexico and the term restorative justice was virtually unheard of until recently. The Mexican criminal justice system is even more punitive than the systems of the United States and Canada. But some Mexican visionaries imagined that there must be better ways to deal with conflict and crime. This summer's initiative was spearheaded by Dr. Jorge Pesqueira, a law professor at the University of Sonora and president of the Instituto de Mediacion de Mexico, along with Sr. Sergio Herrera Trejo, the president of the Tribunal Superior de Mexico (the Supreme Court.) They conceived a five-week training course (60 hours per week) for justices, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and psychologists from every state in Mexico.

Yazzie, Robert. Life Comes from It: Navajo Justice Concepts

Reports on the Navajo Nation's Peacemaker Courts which focuses on healing and nourishing long term relationships, rather than establishing guilt.

Consedine, Jim. Restorative Justice-A Light in the Darkness

Consedine observes that any criticism of the nature of imprisonment and the current criminal justice system raises the objection, “Yes…but what alternatives are you proposing?�? Therefore, Consedine takes up the challenge and proposes restorative justice as the alternative – as a light in the darkness. He substantiates his position by critically examining the idea and practice of punishment as the heart of the problem; explains what restorative justice is and how it works; identifies restorative alternatives to punishment; and urges Christians to work for a restorative justice approach to responding to crime.

Consedine, Jim. A Harsh Reality - A Merciful Response

Beginning with an indictment of the retributive criminal justice system and the modern prison system, Consedine calls for the Christian Church to respond to issues of crime, law, and order with an alternative approach. This approach should express Good News. It should be based on justice, equity, fairness, and accountability. Yet it should also be guided by wisdom tempered by mercy, thus always seeking the possibility of healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation for victims and offenders. To develop this perspective, Consedine explores justice in relation to the common good and to law; biblical justice; shalom, social justice, and covenant; the New Testament and justice; and respect, mercy, forgiveness, and pardon.

Morris, Ruth. Reconciled with Whom? Wrong Criminals, Wrong Goal

In this radical analysis of crime and response to crime, Ruth Morris maintains that the criminal justice system as it exists is a costly, unjust, immoral failure. More succinctly, she sees the system as wrong because it has the wrong goal and it puts the wrong people in the dock. It has the wrong goal-namely, revenge. And it puts the wrong people in the dock – namely, the marginalized. She then applies her analysis to the world’s prisons, the Christian responsibility to reconcile and restore relationships, and pastoral work within the penal system.

Morris, Ruth. Why Transformative Justice?

In this address, Ruth Morris describes her transition from an advocate of restorative justice to an advocate of transformative justice. In her perspective, the difference in terminology is not just semantic; the difference is substantive. She makes her case by outlining the differences she perceives between retributive justice, restorative justice, and transformative justice. In particular, she details how she believes restorative justice suffers from flawed words and analysis, and why transformative justice accurately diagnoses the problem and offers the appropriate response to the problem.

Servicio Internacional para la Paz / International Service for Peace. The Return of the Heart: Justice and Community Reconciliation in the Indigenous Tradition

This article describes traditional indigenous perspectives and structures for dealing with community conflict and crime in the Chiapas region of Mexico. These are contrasted with the formal Mexican criminal justice system. Specific attention is given to ideas of authority, punishment, forgiveness, reconciliation, community, and mediation. The issue is raised whether indigenous perspectives and measures are adequate in the face of the extreme conflict in Chiapas in recent years.

Parker, Lynette. Introducing Restorative Practices to Mexico.

Recently, the Government of Mexico and several NGOs have embarked on efforts to develop restorative practices in that country. These reforms have been the result of efforts to increase security, recognize victimsxe2x80x99 rights, foster changes in the Mexican justice system, and include civil society groups in reforming the system

Lynch, David Joseph. "Restorative justice, bridle for human passions."

In the 1990s, Vermont’s Department of Corrections faced overcrowded facilities, rising costs, public apathy, and programs that seemed ineffective. Vermont responded by launching an initiative to recast its criminal justice system in terms of restorative justice principles and practices. In this thesis, Lynch examines that initiative. He begins with an introduction to the situation in Vermont and the steps outlined by Vermont to refashion its system, with emphasis on a reparative services track rooted in restorative justice. The next section of the study consists of a literature review concerning restorative justice, and a sketch of relevant aspects of Vermont’s state constitution. Then Lynch describes the research methods used in his study. In the final sections of the thesis, he details the operations of the Vermont Reparative Probation Program, with field observations based on his survey and interviews with a variety of individuals connected with the program. To support his analysis and conclusions, Lynch provides statistical tables from his survey and interviews.

Winfree, L. Thomas, Jr. Peacemaking and community harmony: Lessons (and admonitions) from the Navajo Peacemaking Courts.

With considerable interest in restorative justice and its legal and cultural antecedents, many have pointed to aboriginal cultural practices with respect to the restoration of harmony, balance, or peace within a community. Winfree acknowledges the value in learning from those practices, yet he also contends there are cautionary elements in them as well. In general, such elements have been ignored by restorative justice proponents. In view of all of this, Winfree identifies key lessons to be learned form Navajo restorative justice practices. He focuses in particular on promises and cautions for restorative justice in relation to Navajo Peacemaker Courts. He does so first by examining underlying aboriginal ideas and philosophy, and then by locating Peacemaker Courts in Navajo history, culture, values, sense of justice, and ceremonies.

Editor. Interview with Ada Pecos Melton

Trained and experienced in criminal justice, Ms. Melton is a member of the Pueblo Jemez in New Mexico and President of American Indian Development Associates. In this interview, she responds to questions from the editors of Full Circle. The questions and responses address basic concepts and processes of indigenous justice – for example, the nature of indigenous justice; how responsibility is determined; how things are made right; and opportunities and challenges for cooperation between people interested in restorative justice and those interested in indigenous justice.

Pakura, Shannon and Maxwell, Gabrielle. The Family Group Conference: Does it work for child protection?

This paper summaries the values, goals and philosophy underpinning the care and protection system in New Zealand and in particular emphasises the importance of: participatory practice involving families, whanau and communities; diverting families from more formal processes and keeping them within their families and communities, empowering families and children to take decisions about their own lives, and broadening the safety net for children, and improving the quality of social work practice. It identifies some of the key ingredients in a successful conference process including: developing and reaching agreements about quality plans for children, supporting and resourcing these, ensuring participant satisfaction with outcomes, and the critical importance of preparations for the conference; including the provision of appropriate information to participants. It reviews the research literature on family group conferences from New Zealand and elsewhere. This research provides information on the key finding that have emerged through evaluation research and practitioner experience in the area of care and protection. It also identifies important aspects of practice that were of concern in New Zealand in 2005. It reports on a major study of later life outcomes for young people who have been involved in youth justice family group conferences. This research identifies best practice likely to enhance wellbeing, empower children and families, and ensure culturally responsiveness. The findings reported here also focus on the features of best practice that are associated with positive life outcomes for children, young people and their families, and are also likely to be relevant to care protection processes. We conclude that there is little doubt that the care and protection family group conference has the potential to make a real contribution to empowering participants, harnessing the support of family, whanau and community and increasing the safety net for children but that success in achieving these goals is dependent on effective practice and supportive policies. (author's abstract)

Maxwell, Gabrielle. Crossing cultural boundaries: Implementing restorative justice in international and indigenous contexts.

It was about fifteen years ago that Howard Zehr (1990) wrote the first book about Restorative Justice (Changing Lenses), John Braithwaite (1989) wrote about “Crime, Shame and Reintegration” and New Zealand introduced the family group conference – restorative process for resolving matters when children and young people became involved in offending1. Since then, many other jurisdictions have experimented with various forms of restorative justice. Perhaps the most common form, especially for young people has been the use of restorative conference in youth justice. From its beginnings in New Zealand, it has spread to Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa Macao, and the United States of America. Many different forms of restorative family conferencing for young people who have offended have emerged in these different states, provinces and countries for many different types of offences and for people from many different cultures. In this paper, I want to briefly review what has been learnt about the transferability of the process. In particular, what are the resolved questions and what issues still remain unresolved. And what are the conditions which must be met for the process to work in different jurisdictions and among different peoples. (excerpt)

Kemelmajer, Aída. En búsqueda de la tercera vía. La llamada “justicia restaurativa,” “reparativa,” “reintegrativa” o “restitutiva.”

Sumario: I. Terminología. II. Algunas definiciones. III. Algunas claves para comprender las definiciones. IV. Orígenes. V. Razones de la aparición. VI. Normativa emanada de organismos internacionales que trabajan en el ámbito de los derechos humanos en la que se funda la justicia restaurativa. VII. Intereses que la justicia restaurativa intenta amparar. Propósitos o fines generales. VIII. Un fin esencial. La reparación. IX. Idea filosófica que se encuentra a la base de la justicia restaurativa: la democracia participativa. X. Conclusiones. XI. Una esperanza final.

Zion, James W. When People Act as if They Have No Relative: Domestic Abuse Cases in the Crowpoint Family Court

In January 2004, Judges Irene M. Toledo and Angela Keahanie-Sanford of the Navajo Nation Crownpoint Judicial District in northwest New Mexico appointed me as a domestic abuse commissioner in the family court, and I began hearing cases on Fridays starting on February 6, 2004. Based on data I gathered, this chapter revisits some of the conclusions in “Hozho’ Sokee” that were based on theory and anecdotal evidence from peacemakers and support staff. It will (1) analyze the nature of domestic violence cases; (2) identify instances showing when peacemaking works and when it does not; and (3) show how a combined approach using peacemaking and quasi-judicial powers can be innovative. There are distinct differences between the procedures I use and ‘pure’ peacemaking, and they will be addressed in more detail in future writing. (excerpt)

Henderson, James Sa'ke'j Youngblood. Warriors of Justice and Healing.

"Since the Aboriginal legal scholar Professor Gloria Valencia-Weber of the University of New Mexico introduced the idea of Aboriginal lawyers as warriors of justice and healing, we have been expanding on her idea." (excerpt)

Borjon Nieto, Jose J. Medios alternativos de solución de conflictos en materia penal

Ante el incremento de la criminalidad, el rezago en la administracion y procuracion de justicia, el hacinamiento en las prisiones y el aumento de la impunidad, el autor sugiere aplicar medios de resolucion alternativa de conflictos (RAC) en materia penal, como lo hacen otros paises. Finalmente, comenta la propuesta de reforma penal impulsada actualmente por la PGR.

Morris, Ruth. Mi paso desde la justicia del sufrimiento hast la justicia transformadora

sin resumen

Tkachuk, Brian. Alternativas a la prision: Una perspectiva canadiense e internacional

sin resumen