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- Showing 5 posts filed under: Policy [–] published between Jul 01, 2010 and Jul 31, 2010 [Show all]
Churches grapple with whether to welcome convicted sex offenders
from the article by Adelle M. Banks in the Washington Post:
"All are welcome" is a common phrase on many a church sign and Web site. But what happens when a convicted sex offender is at the door?
Church officials and legal advocates are grappling with how -- and whether -- people who have been convicted of sex crimes should be included in U.S. congregations, especially when children are present:
Jul 30, 2010 Community, Religion, Region: North America and Caribbean, Case:Sexual, Policy, Country:USA
Could Oakland become a restorative justice city?
from Dave Belden's entry on Tikkun Daily:
Is it possible for one city to become a model for restorative justice? Can you imagine a ten year plan to make it happen? I don’t know what that might look like but I really want to hear from people who have ideas about it. Here’s an article Edwin Rutsch sent me describing the work of a number of people in Santa Cruz, California, who have that dream for their city. They say that the cities of Hull, England and Rochester, New York have already become “Restorative Cities.”
Youth win on Chicago Public Schools guards, grievance process
from the article by Curtis Black on communitymediaworkshop.org:
In a victory for two youth organizing drives, CPS has agreed to establish a grievance procedure for students experiencing violence, harassment or discrimination, and to pilot a program training security guards to use principles of restorative justice in their work.
Both campaigns promote the restorative justice approach – emphasizing accountability as an alternative to zero tolerance and punitive discipline – as a more effective approach to reducing violence, said Sam Finkelstein of GenderJust, an LGTB student group that protested at CPS headquarters and at CPS chief Ron Huberman’s home to demand a grievance procedure.
Jul 26, 2010 Policy, School, Region: North America and Caribbean, Country:USA
County can take the lead in ensuring juvenile justice
from Gregg Volz's commentary in timesleader.com:
The Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice report on the Luzerne County judicial scandal revealed a multi-systemic failure. Juvenile offenders – some as young as 12– were taken from their parents and placed in detention facilities for weeks, sometimes months, for extremely minor offenses. To put these youth in juvenile detention for minor transgressions at a cost of several hundred dollars a day for months on end is unconscionable public policy.
The report outlines both a virtual breakdown in all three branches of government and a system plagued by tension between those who wanted the juvenile justice system to punish misconduct and those who wanted it to teach youth how to avoid repeating bad behavior. Also at fault, according to the report, “is the fact that there exists an inaccurate perception about the children who come into the juvenile courts.” While some accounts conjure up images of “juvenile predators” or “gang leaders,” our juvenile courts generally deal with less serious conduct – cases that reflect common immaturities among juveniles.
Jul 08, 2010 Policy, School, Country:USA
Is this the end of the war on crime?
from Sasha Abramsky's entry on Sarasota Criminal Justice Reform:
....Some states and localities are also starting to invest in restorative justice models, putting offenders to work to repair the damage they caused the community rather than simply warehousing them in prisons.
Father George Horan, co-director of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles's Office of Restorative Justice, has spent a lifetime watching youngsters do stupid things and, as a result, ruin their lives. He has seen generations of kids graduate from being troubled children to hardened prisoners. And he has grown increasingly cynical about the ability of penal institutions to solve ingrained social problems. Far better, he has come to believe, to sit nonviolent offenders down with their families, teachers, peers, even victims, and force them to come to terms with the consequences of their actions.
