Three strikes ‘means nothing to lose’
May 30, 2010
….Locking away criminals for life would only spark violence from prisoners with nothing to lose, Dr Nikkel said. “It’s an end-product of this public hysteria, that we have to see justice done. It becomes a security issue – these people have no hope for the end of their...
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Expert: End zero tolerance policies
May 30, 2010
Several Pennsylvania high schools have had “remarkable success with restorative practices,†Lapp said. There are various models, but they often involve mediation, with an opportunity for the victim “to communicate to the offender why something was painful or hurtful, and an...
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Helping victims of clergy sexual abuse: Suggestions for Pope Benedict XVI:
May 30, 2010
We respectfully suggest that Pope Benedict hold a press event at which he promises all victims of clergy sexual abuse that the Church will supply whatever they need to heal through the dioceses and/or religious orders where or within which the abuse took place. When the victims are identified...
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What happens at the end of the year
May 30, 2010
But I also think about all the students for whom the end of the school year is not a blessing. The ones who have difficult home situations to return to. The ones who have no home to return to. The ones for whom a summer with less to do day after day can lead to...
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Winning the invisible conflict: Is Sri Lanka headed for sustainable peace?
May 30, 2010
Restorative, participative and transparent justice is not new to Sri Lanka. The Gamsabhawa (or village council) had a mandate to maintain local peace and harmony by facilitating the amicable settlement of disputes, which dates back to 425BC. Similarly, the head priest of the village temple...
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Highbridge park shooting resolved with ‘restorative justice’
May 30, 2010
Burnham Inspector Roger Tolley told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “The two boys discussed the matter and the effects of what happened and what could have happened.” “Going down the restorative justice route makes people recognise and understand what their actions could have...
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Restorative justice in schools
May 30, 2010
The approach has had a clear and positive impact on behaviour where it has been used is schools. Sir Charles Pollard, former chief constable of Thames Valley Police, and Graham Robb, board member of the Youth Justice Board share their experiences of restorative justice to an audience at the...
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Healing in a hard place
May 24, 2010
I spoke with Dahlgren, who is now 62 years old and lives on a small farm in Oregon’s coastal mountains, shortly before the release of my novel, “The Crying Tree,” a book about murder and forgiveness that takes place in Oregon. I was interested in knowing more about recent...
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At this prison graduation, the focus is on knowing the effects of their crimes
May 24, 2010
….Morris told his classmates Monday that, until he took the restorative justice course, he’d dealt only intellectually with the pain he’d caused his victims. “This time, it wasn’t my head, it was my soul that was processing things,” he said. That’s the...
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Coalition can break from failed justice policy (England)
May 24, 2010
When the new justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, was last in charge of prisons and penal policy, as home secretary, the average prison population in England and Wales (1992–1993) was 44,628. That figure now stands at over 85,000 – a number Clarke described after his appointment as...
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Catholic church prays for abuse victims and abusers
May 24, 2010
….Anne Lawrence, chairwoman of the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS) support group, welcomed the St Edmund’s prayers but said a “practical response to the victims” was vital for the “intolerable situation to be resolved”. She told BBC News:...
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It’s time to make the punishment fit the white-collar crime
May 24, 2010
Although there were 34 charges, and he admitted them all, in descriptive terms they were at the lower end of the scale. However, the effect of the offending on ordinary New Zealanders has been horrendous. As Judge Chris Field noted at the sentencing in front of the many investors who had...
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Ann Arbor schools need to move to a restorative justice model of discipline
May 24, 2010
The fact that a panel of intelligent people could make such a decision told me that the current practices and principles guiding disciplinary procedures in our schools are still rooted in the principles of punitive justice. The focus of punitive justice is first whether any particular rule or...
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Post-adversarial and post-inquisitorial justice: Transcending traditional penological paradigms
May 24, 2010
Amongst prosecutors, at least in France, there is a divergence of opinion about alternative procedures generally. Some see them as a means of extending formal social control where social controls have failed; some welcome them as a means of re-engaging the community by dealing with social...
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Can prisoners also be victims? Promoting injustice through legislation
May 17, 2010
When the inquiry started, we did a couple of things differently. The victims in this case were members of the Mongrel Mob, a Maori gang whose code of ethics prevented them from making statements to the Police – even though they were on this occasion the victims. We...
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