Source: (1997) This paper is a modification of: Scheff, T. Crime, shame, and community: Mediation against violence. Wellness Lecture Series, 1996, Volume VI. UC-Wellness Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series. Photocopied.
War and other forms of conflict involve emotions that are often profound impediments to conflict resolution and peace. Scheff proposes an approach for building peace that deals with these emotions. With respect to crime in particular, this approach utilizes community conferences to address both the crimes at issue and the emotions that block peace-making. Scheff notes the role of collective emotions in protracted conflict and the development of alternative tools to mediate conflict or resolve disputes (such as victim-offender mediation, especially through community conferences). He discusses the value of mediation, material and symbolic processes in crime control, reintegrative shaming, hidden shame, symbolic reparation, moral indignation, and dealing with the expression of painful emotions in mediation processes.
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