Source: (2002) Mennonite Brethren Herald 41 (March 22).
Bob Harvey begins this article by recounting his experience in helping several teenagers in Edmonton, Ontario, to acknowledge their acts of theft and vandalism, repent of what they had done, make restitution for the damage they had caused, seek to repair the relationships they had broken, and change their lives. These principles and actions, according to Harvey, constitute what is now called restorative justice. On this basis, Harvey goes on to discuss various attitudes among Christians toward crime and punishment, from the firmly punitive to the restorative. In the course of this, he highlights the experience and perspective of Pierre Allard, a chaplain and assistant commissioner in the Correctional Service of Canada and an advocate of restorative justice.
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