Leaders: Sensitive handling on restorative justice
November 13, 2013
In committee at Holyrood, Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes brought forward an amendment to the Victims and Witnesses Bill that could incorporate “restorative justice†into Scots law. This would give victims of crime the right to demand a face-to-face apology from the person who...
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Review: Civilising criminal justice: An international restorative justice agenda for penal reform
November 12, 2013
Edited by David Cornwell, John Blad and Martin Wright – Foreword by John Braithwaite www.watersidepress.co.uk 2013 Paperback (565 pages) and E-Book. One stated goal (page 44, Introduction) is to offer a “vigorous...
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Oral language competence and restorative justice processes: Refining preparation and the measurement of conference outcomes
November 11, 2013
…Restorative justice processes are highly conversational, requiring young offenders to give coherent accounts of their wrongdoing, as well as processing and understanding emotional information conveyed verbally and nonverbally by their victim(s). What, then, should be made of the...
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Chief Justice, DPP declare support for restorative justice programme
November 10, 2013
They voiced their support, while delivering remarks at a Restorative Justice Protocol and Case Management System Sensitisation workshop held Saturday (November 9), at the Jewel Paradise Cove Beach Resort and Spa in Runaway Bay, St Ann. Participants included crown counsels, representatives from...
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Restorative Justice listening . . . to bare witness
November 6, 2013
I got to explore this with a small group of volunteers we were working on their skills to become Cirlcekeepers at SCVRJP. I used a volunteer behavior to make my point. A great listener, yet and responder in a verbal Mmmm, when he hears something he really understands. Great...
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Why a court case is not always the answer
November 5, 2013
She was given a choice of cash compensation for her injury or a caution for her attacker. Insp Tyner said: “I am unable to comment on the individual case, except to say that I am dismayed that, despite the fact that we have investigated a crime and tracked down the culprit, the victim...
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Kris Olinger murder: Even though case is concluded, there are still wounds that can be healed
November 4, 2013
Sitting at a coffee shop near the courthouse, Phillips says he’s relieved that Jacobo Ruelas, now 35, received life without parole for his role in the carjacking and stabbing that took Kris’s life. Earlier this year, Ruelas’ younger brother Angel Ruelas was also given the...
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Iowa Kids: After a crime, a second chance
November 4, 2013
Earlier in the night, he and a friend were spotted pilfering airsoft guns and pellets from a West Des Moines department store. In total, they stole almost $300 worth of merchandise. On his way home, the police caught up with him. “It felt like a daze,†said Neumann, now 18....
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Creating a non-violent juvenile justice system: Report 2013
November 1, 2013
Juvenile justice should be neither punitive nor retributive, but rather emphasise prevention as a first priority. If children have already come into conflict with the law, however, rights-based measures should be taken to divert them away from the formal justice system into community-centred...
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Victim’s voice — Restorative justice helps victims
October 29, 2013
She goes on to describe meeting the offender in a restorative conference and his response to her descriptions of the multiple layers of harm he had...
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Huge drop in restraint attributed to restorative justice
October 28, 2013
Atkinson Secure Children’s Home in Exeter has become the first children’s home to be awarded a Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM) by the Restorative Justice Council in recognition of its work. Recent figures show the home, which provided custodial places for the Youth...
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Real-life stories: Property damage
October 28, 2013
Instead, this young man has taken to heart our description of the Restorative Justice process as an opportunity to own up and to “make rightâ€: so far he is unusual in having had nothing but somber and truthful answers to our every question. He’s deeply sorry he did what he...
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Newhaven crime victim receives apology from offender
October 27, 2013
Sussex Police said the cyclist was later sentenced to a conditional discharge for 12 months and was ordered to pay compensation and costs to the victim, having pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage. After sentencing, the victim, Jamie Crawford, 50, of Denton Drive, Newhaven, contacted...
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People are not programs
October 23, 2013
While I am prepared to ask those identified as offenders to open mediation by “telling what you did , why you did it, and please add anything else you would like to say to...
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The other F word
October 19, 2013
It is taboo, even revolutionary, to consider forgiveness as a component to criminal justice reform, but that’s just what the victims and survivors in my documentary Unlikely Friends are proposing. The film premiers Oct. 21 at 9 ET on Investigation Discovery. Feeling unfulfilled and even...
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