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Aharan, Peter and Lewis, Alice. Community Justice Circles and Community Development

The Saint Leonard’s Society of London began an Alternative Measures Program in 1988 in London, Ontario, Canada. This program gives young offenders charged with minor offenses the opportunity to make amends for their behavior outside of the formal court process. Building on the success of this program, in 1995 Saint Leonard’s began to develop the concept of community justice circles. Saint Leonard’s adapted these circles from aboriginal practices to include the participation of members from the young person’s own community and the victim in all aspects of the Alternative Measures Program. With this in mind, Arahan and Lewis describe the principles and operation of community justice circles in relation to community development in London, Ontario.

Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Church Council News: Connecting the Dots

The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. In collaboration with the Correctional Service of Canada, the CCJC conducted three “Connecting the Dots‿ forums in the following locations: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Lethbridge, Alberta; and Prince George, British Columbia. Each meeting consisted of a two-day, community-based Healing Justice Education Forum. By bringing together faith and community representatives, including criminal justice professionals, the forums sought to educate and engage participants in terms of the relevance and application of restorative and community-strengthening tools towards healthier and safer places to live. This document presents a final report on the forums. Among other contents, it contains testimonials from participants; the origin, purpose, and structure of the forums; local partners and attendees; evaluation of the goals of the project; and networking and new initiative results of the forums.

Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Interim Report: Toward an Integrated Model of Justice

The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. The CCJC received project funding for an initiative, “Toward and Integrated Model of Justice.‿ The aim of the initiative is to build on the experience and success of the Collaborative Justice Project. The Collaborative Justice Project, operating out of the court house in Ottawa, applies restorative justice principles and processes in bringing together offenders, victims, families, and support people between an admission of guilt and prior to sentencing. This initiative, as explained in the interim report on progress, is intended to enhance and integrate this restorative justice model by extending it to new uses in the Canadian criminal justice system.

Collaborative Justice Project. Collaborative Justice Report: Year End Report on the Collaborative Justice Project

The Collaborative Justice Project (CJP) is a demonstration project in the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton that began in September 1998. The aim of the project is to show how a restorative approach in cases of serious crime can deliver more satisfying justice to victims, offenders, and communities. It is an initiative of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC), a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. Published on March 31, 2002, this is the year end report on the project. It describes what the project is not, cases handled by the project, the process for dealing with a case, case statistics, volunteers, public education, evaluation, and project staff.

Collaborative Justice Project. Lessons Learned in the Collaborative Justice Project

The Collaborative Justice Project (CJP) is a demonstration project in the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton that began in September 1998. The aim of the project is to show how a restorative approach in cases of serious crime can deliver more satisfying justice to victims, offenders, and communities. It is an initiative of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC), a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. This short document lists, with brief explanations, some chief lessons learned from the operation of the CJP. These lessons include, among others, the value of providing more information to victims, offenders, and communities; the need for much more public education about restorative justice; and a restorative model can work within the current justice system, however difficult it is to do so.

Community Justice Centre of Comox Valley.

The Community Justice Centre of the Comox Valley Society in British Colombia, Canada has been providing restorative services since 1998. Edwarde O’Donnel and Karen Rushton provide an overview of the programme and of an in-house evaluation of participant satisfaction.

Cormier, Robert B. An Excerpt from the Speech, “Restorative Justice: Pathways and Pathfinders‿

Robert Cormier, of the Department of the Solicitor General in Canada, gave the keynote address at the launch of Restorative Justice Week 2003, a week dedicated to education about and advancement of restorative justice among churches and the public in general. In his address, Cormier highlighted a promising restorative justice initiative and certain people with the vision to promote and implement restorative justice. The project is the Collaborative Justice Project, operating out of the court house in Ottawa. It is designed to apply restorative justice principles after an admission of guilt but prior to sentencing. It brings together the offender, victims, families, and support people to address the harm caused by the offense. Some key people behind this project include members of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections.

Dooley, Michael. "Vermont Reparative Probation."

This report summarizes Vermont's (as state in the U.S.) restructuring of its corrections philosophy and practices. This includes a "Reparative Programs" service track designed for offenders who commit non-violent offenses who demonstrate a low risk of re-offending. The focus of this track is to require the offender to make reparations to the victim and to the community. This track features a program called Reparative Probation-which directly involves the community in the sentencing and monitoring functions of the Vermont state criminal justice process. Vermont's reparative "model" is based on a "paradigm shift" from a more "Retributive" to a "Restorative" form of justice.

Editor. Restorative Justice Center Opens in Maine

The opening of the Restorative Justice Center of Maine on September 13 2004, marked another milestone for the Maine Council of Churches’ (MCC) vision of making the practice of restorative justice a viable option in Maine. The Council’s involvement in criminal and juvenile justice issues spans twenty years during which its search for alternative and effective policies brought about an exploration of restorative justice and an ever stronger advocacy for restorative justice principles. Author's abstract.

Finger Lakes Restorative Justice Center

The Finger Lakes Restorative Justice Center provides restorative justice services to the nine counties of the Genesee/Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. Dr. Mary Jeanette Ebenhack, co-director, provides this overview of the organization's development.

Furness, Amanda. Turning Toward Compassion: Restorative Justice works to develop youths' conscience

It isn't enough just to boss them around. Parents, teachers and court authorities have found this statement to be true in their dealings with many of today's youth - often losing their children to the system after forced discipline fails to work. A method recently introduced in New Orleans called the "restorative justice" movement is hoping to revolutionize the relationships between youth and their communities by exhibiting the most basic human emotion. Love. (extract)

Grenfell, Dale Mary. ROCA- Restorative Justice in a Massachusetts Community

Roca is Spanish for “rock‿ or “foundation.‿ Located in a highly diverse, multicultural, urban area north of Boston, Massachusetts, Roca, Inc is a values driven agency that began in 1998. Roca, Inc focuses on empowering at-risk youth and young families through programs that promote a real sense of belonging. In this article Dale Mary Grenfell describes its roots in restorative justice principles, peacemaking circles, multicultural programming, and community building. She also identifies some of Roca’s key programs – such as literacy, health, young parenting, and life skills – and she profiles the director of the organization, Molly Baldwin.

Local Community Innovations: Transformation House

This private, non-profit organization in Kentucky serves homicide survivors and convicted murderers. When both parties desire it, Transformation House brings together death row inmates with the survivors of their victim. Meet the committed woman who started this innovative program.

Making Victims' Voices Heard

Victims’ Voices Heard (VVH) provides victims and victim survivors of severe violence the opportunity to meet with their offenders in a facilitated encounter. Located in Delaware, it is based on a model first developed in Texas. Kim Book, programme coordinator for VVH, describes her experience with the criminal justice system and shares a victim perspective on the mediation process.

McGillis, Daniel. Resolving Community Conflict: The Dispute Settlement Center of Durham, North Carolina.

The author notes that every community experiences disputes among its members, often ending up in court as criminal or civil cases. As an alternative, many communities have established community mediation programs. Community mediation programs train volunteers in conflict resolution skills. These volunteers provide dispute resolution services to individual citizens and groups. Mediation sessions bring together the parties in a dispute with mediators who help them discuss the issues involved and work toward a mutually agreeable solution to the problem. This paper details the development, structure, and operations of one such program in the United States.

Restorative Justice in New Orleans.

Turning Point Partners is a restorative justice initiative in New Orleans, Louisiana. The group, led by Lou Furman and Jean Handley, has developed programs for the youth court, juvenile institutions, and a local charter school. Turning Point Partners sees restorative justice as a tool for teaching the skills and values needed for creating healthy and safe communities. This article about their program below was written by Lou Furman.

Scott, Jamie. Restorative Justice and the Criminal Justice System (Collaborative Justice Project's Learning Profiled to the Ontario Office for Victims of Crime Conference)

The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. James Scott is the project coordinator for the CCJC’s Collaborative Justice Project. A community based pilot program operating out of the Ottawa courthouse through court referrals, this project focuses on serious crimes and operates primarily at the post-plea, pres-sentence stage. It attempts to bring offenders and victims together in order to help the victim, the accused, their families, and others deal with issues of communication, support and safety needs, accountability and reparation – all to give the affected parties a voice and choice in the criminal justice process. Scott explains all of this in describing what the project is not, as well as what it is and how it operates in practice.

The Jeanette Community Justice Project.

The Jeanette Community Justice Project grew out of a decision by the Westmoreland County Juvenile Probation Balanced and Restorative Justice Team’s Public Relations Sub-Committee to implement the philosophy of Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) in a single community. Marjorie Bing Stanislaw, the committee chairperson, provides this description of their efforts.

Umbreit, Mark S. "Mediation of Criminal Conflict: An Assessment of Programs in Four Canadian Provinces: Executive Summary Report."

This executive summary describes a study of community based non-profit organizations that provide mediation services for referrals from the criminal justice systems in cities in four Canadian provinces. The four program sites offer a wide range of diversity in program design, community acceptance, caseload size, history, management procedures, and impact on the criminal justice system.

Walker, Lorenn. A Hawai'i Public Housing Community Implements Conferencing: A Restorative Approach to Conflict Resolution

Hawaii is a beautiful tropical place, observes Lorenn Walker, yet it is not paradise. Like all places, it has its share of problems and human conflicts. Residents of Kalihi Valley Homes, a public housing community in Hawaii, decided to put into practice a family group conferencing program to deal with conflicts between people in the community. This is structured along the lines of the Real Justice model of conferencing. With the Kalihi Valley Homes community as an example, Walker explains the restorative nature of conferencing, the conferencing process, and positive outcomes of conferencing.