A tough job at Justice
September 5, 2012
The MoJ is in the middle of a programme of severe budget cuts and central to achieving the 26% savings is ensuring the prison population of England and Wales can be stabilised and, ultimately, brought down. At the beginning of this year the population increased by 1,000 in a relatively short...
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In sentencing criminals, is Norway too soft? Or are we too harsh?
August 30, 2012
In the United States, prison sentences have gotten longer and longer—a sea change that Americans have come to accept relatively quickly (largely because the targets have been people of color). Just a few decades ago in high-incarceration states like Louisiana, lifers were eligible for...
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Prison experiences of self forgiveness
August 27, 2012
The experience of prison in Ireland has been one of building expansion at the cost of any real investment in rehabilitative or re-integrative measures. A ‘typical’ prisoner in Ireland is broadly similar to those in the rest of the Western world; young, urban, undereducated males...
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Releasing control
August 27, 2012
Recently, I facilitated a conference with an offender who I suspected of having some mental health issues. The case involved neglecting job duties that resulted in placing a young child at risk of harm (thankfully the child wasn’t physically injured). While accepting that the incident...
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Restorative city push picks up pace
August 27, 2012
Mr Alexander said when the trust first began researching restorative cities, it led them to Hull, a city with serious deprivation, a high crime rate and major social problems. Led by an inspirational principal, Estelle MacDonald, who instituted restorative practices in her own school, Hull...
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Parent-to-parent guide: Restorative justice in Chicago Public Schools
August 27, 2012
It took us three years, but in 2007, parents and community groups won new policies for discipline in Chicago Public Schools. Instead of the rigid and arbitrary rules of “zero tolerance†there is a new philosophy of restorative justice in the Student Code of Conduct. Now, schools,...
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How we forgave my son’s vicious killer: Parents whose teenage boy was beaten to death by thugs come face-to-face with offenders
August 27, 2012
‘I held my hands out to him and he came to me and hugged me,’ Ray says. ‘He grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. He cried and cried,’ Ray says. ‘As I cuddled him, he whispered “I’m sorry” in my ear. ‘Then he turned to...
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Restorative justice behind bars
August 27, 2012
The “Restorative Justice Behind Bars†8-week session blended 10 SU students with 16 inmates who are part of the University Beyond Bars program. The format is based on a restorative justice program called encounter, which places a high value on having the victim and offender...
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West Berkshire reaps benefit of restorative justice
August 27, 2012
The Team attributes two major factors to this impressive figure. Firstly, in 2001 the partnership established an Early Intervention Team to work with young people between the ages of 8 and 15 years focussing on preventing them offending in the first place, or to intervene at an early stage to...
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Violence against women: restorative justice solutions in international perspective.
August 27, 2012
The real challenges of penal mediation in gendered violence cases are correct screening proceedings and adequate coordination protocols. The need to count with rigorous screening-proceedings, directed to control the concurrence of all the conditions that justify the suitability of the case for...
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Community justice panel helps change street drinkers’ ways
August 27, 2012
And, after months of recruiting and training volunteers from the public, the first one was held last week. Town centre police, who launched a crackdown on street drinkers under the name of Operation Arcadia, recommended ten of the most prolific in the group of about 50 drinkers they identified...
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A different justice: Why Anders Breivik only got 21 years for killing 77 people
August 25, 2012
….In the Breivik trial, this meant giving every victim (survivors as well as the families of those killed) a direct voice. Victims were individually represented by 174 court-appointed lawyers. The court heard 77 autopsy reports, 77 descriptions of how Breivik had killed them, and 77...
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Restorative justice and overseas adoption
August 20, 2012
….I am very interested in overseas adoption and restorative justice based on tolerance, forgiveness, and repentance. First of all, I would like to research how to apply restorative justice to overseas adoption. I strongly believe that the three parties in restorative justice such as...
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Restorative justice is the law
August 14, 2012
Now they have collaborated on the development of an impressive 48-minute video called Restorative Justice is the Law. It explores the status of restorative justice in Canadian law. It does make an effective case for the full inclusion of restorative justice in Canadian criminal...
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