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From Problem-Solving Policing to Problem-Solving Justice

Pollard, Charles.
June 4, 2015

Source: (1997) Paper presented at Dawn or Dusk in Sentencing, La détermination de la peine : une réforme pour hier ou pour demain, April 24-26, Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. Pp. 113-142. Downloaded 24 May 2005.

Many police practitioners can see the benefits of problem-solving, restorative
justice. Patrol officers often tell me how they want offenders to understand the
consequences of what they have done, including the disruption inflicted on their
communities.
Significantly, Tony Marshall defines restorative justice as: “[…] a way of dealing
with victims and offenders by focusing on the settlement of conflicts arising from crime
and resolving the underlying problems which cause it. It is also, more widely, a way of
dealing with crime generally in a rational problem-solving way”.
Implicit in both problem-solving policing and problem-solving justice is the
obligation of the criminal justice system to reduce the potential for future conflict. Both
seek to problem-solve by targeting the behaviour that compromises the peace and safety
of the community and both offer new tools, ranging from Conferencing to the Partnership
(Interagency) approach, with which communities and agencies together can try to solve
old problems. (excerpt)

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AbstractCourtsPolicePolicyPrisonsRestorative PracticesRJ and the WorkplaceRJ in SchoolsRJ OfficeStatutes and LegislationTeachers and StudentsVictim Support
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