Neighbourhood Disputes

Restorative processes provide an opportunity for neighbours to develop their own solutions to their conflicts while building more understanding and stronger relationships.

Restorative justice: making neighbourhood resolution panels work

from the article by Keith Cooper in the Guardian: The coalition pledge to boost communities' crime fighting power is due to take a big step forward next year. By March 2012, the Ministry of Justice hopes to announce the first group of officially endorsed neighbourhood resolution panels. These will usher in a new era of "restorative-justice", allowing panels of volunteers – including offenders and victims – to decide how low level crimes should be dealt with. Proceedings will be overseen by a trained member of the public instead of a magistrate or judge; lawyers are barred. The panels conclude with a signed agreement to which all parties agree.

Volunteer hopes McKnight award will bring attention to Somali issues

from Madeleine Baran's report on Minnesota Public Radio: "You have to understand that these are youth who have probably never seen Somalia ... and were born in a refugee camp," Ali, 40, said. "So the best they saw is a hardened kind of life, survival of the fittest. The prime time of their life has been lost, when they could be held, be loved, and play and eat." In response to the study's findings, Ali founded the Center for Multicultural Mediation and Restorative Justice Program. The Minneapolis-based organization holds restorative justice sessions with Somali youth who have been arrested for shoplifting and other offenses. Each session also includes the parents and a community member. "The (community member) will say, 'It's not good for us. You're doing harm to the Somali community, to your family, to everybody in the neighborhood,'" Ali said.

City, community groups express pride following protests

From Jill Replogle's article in Oakland North: As Oakland awaits next month’s sentencing of Johannes Mehserle, the BART police officer convicted last Thursday of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant, authorities, community groups and onlookers congratulated each other on the mostly non-violent protests that followed the verdict last Thursday. Joint planning among city, police and community groups helped keep the peace, they say.

Community justice alternative to sit-lie proposed

from the article on SF Appeal: A San Francisco supervisor today introduced alternative legislation to a proposed, controversial sit-lie ordinance that would be based on a community justice solutions and not simply police enforcement. Board president David Chiu said the ordinance he's proposing would be "a neighborhood-based community justice model" that could serve as an alternative or complement to legislation offered by Mayor Gavin Newsom. Newsom's ordinance, supported by Police Chief George Gascon, would make it unlawful to sit or lie on a public sidewalk between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Dispute Resolution Foundation gets $34 million injection from EU

from the Jamaica Information Service: The work of the Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF) has been bolstered by a J$34 million injection from the European Union for a project dubbed 'We Want Justice'. The project, which aims to advance democratic rights, through the promotion of alternative dispute resolution, was launched Thursday (March 4), at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston. It aims to carry out its mandate through mediation, arbitration and restorative justice practices.

Chicago teens encourage nonviolent actions

by David Schaper on npr.org: In Chicago, the problem of youth violence is difficult to escape or ignore. After the highly publicized beating death of a Chicago teenager in September, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited the city and called for a national conversation on youth violence. More than a month later, Chicagoans are talking. Some teens are spending long hours strategizing about how to stop violence, but still others voice frustration over attacks that remain a constant in their lives.

A “proactive” restorative conference

from Matthew Kuehlhorm's blog Life Skoolz: As the meeting progressed, tempers cooled and people began to listen. Ultimately, the kids agreed to the boundaries set by security and the college administrators. Campus security also had a chance to meet the kids and now knows who they are when they do come onto campus. Campus is open to them after all.

Finding space for Fido

by Dan Van Ness This is not the story about a violent crime or even school bullying. But it concerns a problem contributing to the quality of life of people in a neighborhood, and of the dogs that some of them own. Dog owners in the Kingfield neighbourhood of Minneapolis want a place for their pets to run free. While there is no park in their district that allows this, some of them unleash their dogs anyhow.

Talking cure: Community Conferencing Center uses restorative justice techniques to deal with crime in Baltimore

They have assembled for what's called a community conference, a conflict-resolution strategy (or, in the lingo of those who practice it, a "conflict transformation" strategy) that will help each of the parties in the room discuss what happened, why it happened, and what everyone would like to see happen to resolve the problem. Once everyone comes to a mutual decision about how the problem should be resolved, everyone in the room signs an "agreement," which outlines the things participants will to do to make amends for the situation that brought them to the conference in the first place.

Elsheikh, Zaza. Rapid Response - adapting the delivery of mediation to meet community needs

Bromley Community Mediation Services (BCMS) provides pro bono mediation services to the communities of the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich. The service is delivered through 30 fully trained volunteer community mediators, who facilitate the resolution of a diverse range of disputes, for example property boundaries, racial tensions and lifestyle differences. (excerpt)

Bailie, John. Power, Authority and Restorative Practices

“Power” can be defined as the ability to exert influence over one’s environment and play an active role in the decisions that affect one most. Healthy communities set external boundaries while fostering inner control and social discipline. Restorative practices provide participatory processes that determine social power and promote healthy self-discipline and social discipline. Restorative practices greatly broaden the scope of restorative justice by offering a unifying model that can optimize all uses of power and authority, not just responses to crime and wrongdoing. By maximizing social engagement and participation in both proactive community building and reactive responses to wrongdoing, restorative practices provide a philosophical framework and practical mechanisms to foster individual and social health. (excerpt)

Wachtel, Joshua. Toward Peace and Justice in Brazil: Dominic Barter and Restorative Circles.

In 2004 the Brazilian Ministry of Justice received a small UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) grant to launch the country’s first official restorative justice (RJ) pilot projects. Recognizing the unique social context of urban violence in Brazil, the projects brought together school administrators, judges, court workers, prison authorities, social service agencies and local community leaders to create a broad restorative response to the most challenging breakdowns in community safety. While justly known for their creative celebration of life, Brazilians also live with glaring wealth imbalances and the normalization of violence: Murder is the principle cause of death for people under 25. (excerpt)

Welden Lynn M. . A Restorative Community Circle: A Neighborhood Takes Charge

When ongoing vandalism by local youth — graffiti, broken windows, littering — affected Buxmont Academy Trevose and the surrounding neighborhood of families and shop owners, school coordinator Ed Krajewski decided to apply a restorative approach used at the school, one of eight alternative schools operated by the Community Service Foundation and Buxmont Academy (CSF Buxmont) in Pennsylvania, USA (demonstration programs of the IIRP). (excerpt)

Galindo, Joanne. Community Mediation AmeriCorps Program: Meeting Conflict Resolution Needs in Communities.

The National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM), in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service, has developed the Community Mediation AmeriCorps Program. The mission of the Community Mediation AmeriCorps Program is to build safe and peaceful communities by developing and promoting conflict resolution and mediation programs with youth, diverse volunteers, and the community. (excerpt)

McDonough, Ian. Community Mediation and Community Development in Scotland.

Community mediation in the UK began to develop in the 1980s as a response to a startling rise in the incidence of reported neighbourhood disputes. In Scotland the first community mediation service was launched in Edinburgh in 1995, and the next ten years saw a period of rapid and sustained growth which was well beyond that experienced in the rest of the UK. There are now 31 services in Scotland, covering almost the whole of the country from large cities to small islands, and assisting with the resolution of over 3000 community conflicts every year. (excerpt)

McDonough, Ian. Community Mediation and Community Development In Scotland.

Over 3000 community conflicts in Scotland are resolved through Community Mediation each year. The NGO Sacro has developed a series of manuals for developing a Community Mediation service. The final manual addresses the role of community mediation in fostering community development. In this article, Ian McDonough, mediation adviser for Sacro, provides an overview of the manual with a link to the full-text.

Sawatsky, Jarem.. The ethic of traditional communities and the spirit of healing justice. Studies from Hollow Water, the Iona Community, and Plum Village.

What is healing justice? Who practices it? What does it look like? In this international study on healing justice, Jarem Sawatsky examines traditional communities including Hollow Water -- an Aboriginal and Metis community in Canada renowned for their healing work in the face of 80% sexual abuse rates; the Iona Community -- a dispersed Christian ecumenical community in Scotland known for their work towards peace, healing, and social justice, rebuilding of community and the renewal of worship; and Plum Village -- a Vietnamese initiated Buddhist community in southern France -- and home to the Nobel Peace Prize nominated author -- Thich Nhat Hahn. These case studies record a search for the kind of social, structural, and spiritual relationships necessary to sustain a healing view of justice. Through comparing cases, Sawatsky identifies the common patterns, themes and imagination which these communities share. The commonalities among those that practice healing justice are then examined for their implications for wider society, particularly for restorative justice and criminal justice. (Publisher's description)

Boyes-Watson, Carolyn. Holding the Space: The Journey of Circles at ROCA.

In this report on the period from July 2001 through June 2002, Carolyn Boyes-Watson examines the experiences and lessons of peacemaking circles at Roca, Inc. Roca is a grassroots, multicultural human development and community building organization serving people and communities in eastern Massachusetts. Peacemaking circles are integral to all that Roca does in its work with young people, families, communities, and staff. The report consists of four parts. Part I provides a description of the learning and training activities conducted by Roca, and a thorough overview of the many uses of circles at Roca. Parts II, III, and IV provide a focused discussion of the impact of circles on three areas important to the mission and values of Roca: empowerment of young people; accountability among young people, Roca, and the wider community; and people coming together and building community through circles.

Colley, Bartholomew Bioh. A Community Approach to Overcoming Violence: Peace and Justice Through Reconciliation

The Biblical theological perspective of violent conflict, with emphasis on Africa, the current methods of intervention, restorative justice through truth commissions, retributive justice through war crimes tribunals and a community approach to overcome violence by seeking peace and justice through reconciliation are examined. A sustainable reconciliation that will restore peace and justice must be holistic, and include the spiritual, personal, social and ecological dimensions of life.

McIntosh, Alastair. Community, power and peace

McIntosh contends for community as the basis of human relationship that generates peace. Building on elements in Celtic spirituality, he develops the significance and character of community (relationship with other people, with nature, and with God). Then he analyzes war as the antithesis of peace and as the result of the disintegration of the connectedness of community. This analysis includes discussion of the trauma caused by such disintegration and violence. McIntosh also examines power in terms of a continuum from evil to good expressions of power (both in exterior and interior forms). This leads to his thoughts on how poverty, chastity, and obedience can inform peace activism and shape community.