Community

Community based interventions have played an important role in the development of restorative justice practice in this region.

. Circles of Support & Accountability: A National Replication of Outcome Findings: Results show that the offenders who participated in COSA had significantly lower rates of any type of reoffending than did the matched comparison offenders who did not participate in COSA. Specifically, offenders who participated in COSA had an 83% reduction in sexual recidivism in contrast to the matched comparison group (2.1% vs. 12.8%), a 73% reduction in all types of violent recidivism (including sexual – 8.5% vs. 31.9%), and an overall reduction of 72% in all types of recidivism (including violent and sexual – 10.6% vs. 38.3%). Overall, COSA participants were responsible for considerably less sexual, violent, and general offending in comparison to the matched comparison group. (excerpt)
2nd Chance Staffing: from the organization's website: To ex-offenders: We employ motivated men and women that have made concrete changes in their lives. A change to us means having become a law-abiding member of the community who understands there is no replacement for hard work and dedication. If you fit this bill, we are looking for you. We care about your skills, your mindset, and your future -- not your past. To businesses: At 2nd Chance, we provide top-quality employees for companies of all sizes. Because we have consistently provided loyal, hardworking employees for Fortune 500 companies across the country, we have seen first-hand how well our business model works. Whether you are searching for long-term employees or temp-to-hire positions, 2nd Chance can help!
A visionary judge makes restorative justice come alive in Alabama: from Ken Kimsey's entry on Fairness Works: In a six-part video series, Judge McCooey talks passionately about her believe that justice requires much more than the court system provides, especially in the area of giving crime victims the opportunity to meet the offenders, face-to-face, in a safe place, and to do so on a voluntary basis. (If you walk out of here and find someone has stolen your car radio, chances are you don’t have much interest in meeting the thief, she says in one segment. But the more deeply you have been hurt, the more likely you want to meet the offender and ask questions like “why?”.) As appealing as her speaking style and warmth is her story about the unorthodox path that led her to the bench. Serving as a judge was never in her long-range plans, but when she won her first election against a well-established Montgomery lawyer, surprising herself in the process, she knew there were some new thing she wanted to try. Finding ways of implementing a restorative justice program was among them, and she set about methodically but quietly to make this happen.
Aharan, Peter and Lewis, Alice. Community Justice Circles and Community Development: The Saint Leonard’s Society of London began an Alternative Measures Program in 1988 in London, Ontario, Canada. This program gives young offenders charged with minor offenses the opportunity to make amends for their behavior outside of the formal court process. Building on the success of this program, in 1995 Saint Leonard’s began to develop the concept of community justice circles. Saint Leonard’s adapted these circles from aboriginal practices to include the participation of members from the young person’s own community and the victim in all aspects of the Alternative Measures Program. With this in mind, Arahan and Lewis describe the principles and operation of community justice circles in relation to community development in London, Ontario.
Baron, Linda. Fourteen Months in a FEMA Field Office: A Special Kind of Community Mediation.: Mediating in FEMA was nothing like the court, community, and agency-based programs that I was familiar with. There were no intake forms, no dedicated mediation rooms, no established protocols or procedures, and no one knew much about mediation and conflict resolution. In most mediation programs, mediation is an alternative to something – an alternative to litigation, prosecution, investigation, or some other kind of more formal process. In FEMA, when workplace disputes become intolerable, someone is usually “released” (i.e., sent home). That person may eventually be deployed to another disaster, and might even find himself working next to the same person he had a conflict with in the last disaster. One of our tasks, as in any workplace mediation program, was to facilitate more satisfactory resolution of conflicts both for the present situation, and for t he future. (excerpt)
Buller, Ed. Aboriginal Community Healing Processes In Canada.: Issues of abuse within families and particularly Aboriginal families have been brought to the surface in Canada over the last decade. In response, a growing number of Aboriginal communities are developing holistic models of treatment for Aboriginal victims, offenders, families and the community as a whole. The approach taken is one that addresses the root causes of criminal activity and proactively engages offenders, victims and families to break the cycle of abuse. These initiatives work within the current criminal justice system while bringing a unique alternative to imprisonment that can lead to stronger and safer communities. Communities engaged in these healing approaches have seen benefits in terms of significantly reduced criminal activity and several other social benefits. There is not one universally recognized definition of community healing. Some have described healing as being “about collective approaches to change that enhance Aboriginal cultural identity. It is about family and community crisis intervention, integrated human services, political cooperation and public participation in processes of planned change and institution building.”i The Four Worlds Centre for Development Education concludes that healing “ may therefore be strategically described as a process of removing barriers and building the capacity of people and communities to address the determinants of health.(excerpt)
Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Church Council News: Connecting the Dots: The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. In collaboration with the Correctional Service of Canada, the CCJC conducted three “Connecting the Dots‿ forums in the following locations: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Lethbridge, Alberta; and Prince George, British Columbia. Each meeting consisted of a two-day, community-based Healing Justice Education Forum. By bringing together faith and community representatives, including criminal justice professionals, the forums sought to educate and engage participants in terms of the relevance and application of restorative and community-strengthening tools towards healthier and safer places to live. This document presents a final report on the forums. Among other contents, it contains testimonials from participants; the origin, purpose, and structure of the forums; local partners and attendees; evaluation of the goals of the project; and networking and new initiative results of the forums.
Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Interim Report: Toward an Integrated Model of Justice: The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. The CCJC received project funding for an initiative, “Toward and Integrated Model of Justice.‿ The aim of the initiative is to build on the experience and success of the Collaborative Justice Project. The Collaborative Justice Project, operating out of the court house in Ottawa, applies restorative justice principles and processes in bringing together offenders, victims, families, and support people between an admission of guilt and prior to sentencing. This initiative, as explained in the interim report on progress, is intended to enhance and integrate this restorative justice model by extending it to new uses in the Canadian criminal justice system.
Churches grapple with whether to welcome convicted sex offenders: from the article by Adelle M. Banks in the Washington Post: "All are welcome" is a common phrase on many a church sign and Web site. But what happens when a convicted sex offender is at the door? Church officials and legal advocates are grappling with how -- and whether -- people who have been convicted of sex crimes should be included in U.S. congregations, especially when children are present:
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.
Collaborative Justice Project. Collaborative Justice Report: Year End Report on the Collaborative Justice Project: The Collaborative Justice Project (CJP) is a demonstration project in the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton that began in September 1998. The aim of the project is to show how a restorative approach in cases of serious crime can deliver more satisfying justice to victims, offenders, and communities. It is an initiative of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC), a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. Published on March 31, 2002, this is the year end report on the project. It describes what the project is not, cases handled by the project, the process for dealing with a case, case statistics, volunteers, public education, evaluation, and project staff.
Collaborative Justice Project. Lessons Learned in the Collaborative Justice Project: The Collaborative Justice Project (CJP) is a demonstration project in the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton that began in September 1998. The aim of the project is to show how a restorative approach in cases of serious crime can deliver more satisfying justice to victims, offenders, and communities. It is an initiative of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC), a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. This short document lists, with brief explanations, some chief lessons learned from the operation of the CJP. These lessons include, among others, the value of providing more information to victims, offenders, and communities; the need for much more public education about restorative justice; and a restorative model can work within the current justice system, however difficult it is to do so.
Community Justice Centre of Comox Valley.: The Community Justice Centre of the Comox Valley Society in British Colombia, Canada has been providing restorative services since 1998. Edwarde O’Donnel and Karen Rushton provide an overview of the programme and of an in-house evaluation of participant satisfaction.
Cormier, Robert B. An Excerpt from the Speech, “Restorative Justice: Pathways and Pathfinders.: Robert Cormier, of the Department of the Solicitor General in Canada, gave the keynote address at the launch of Restorative Justice Week 2003, a week dedicated to education about and advancement of restorative justice among churches and the public in general. In his address, Cormier highlighted a promising restorative justice initiative and certain people with the vision to promote and implement restorative justice. The project is the Collaborative Justice Project, operating out of the court house in Ottawa. It is designed to apply restorative justice principles after an admission of guilt but prior to sentencing. It brings together the offender, victims, families, and support people to address the harm caused by the offense. Some key people behind this project include members of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections.
Dooley, Michael. "Vermont Reparative Probation.": This report summarizes Vermont's (as state in the U.S.) restructuring of its corrections philosophy and practices. This includes a "Reparative Programs" service track designed for offenders who commit non-violent offenses who demonstrate a low risk of re-offending. The focus of this track is to require the offender to make reparations to the victim and to the community. This track features a program called Reparative Probation-which directly involves the community in the sentencing and monitoring functions of the Vermont state criminal justice process. Vermont's reparative "model" is based on a "paradigm shift" from a more "Retributive" to a "Restorative" form of justice.
Driedger, Otto. Faith Communities Respond to Restorative Justice: While Otto Driedger refers to faith communities "responding" to restorative justice, he contends that they really are not "responding." Rather, faith communities actually gave rise to the modern restorative justice movement. From this perspective, Driedger goes on to point out ways in which churches are involved in applying restorative ideas and practices to crime victims, offenders, and communities. In particular he highlights victim assistance by the Mennonite Central Committee, a video by the Presbyterian Church USA on restorative responses to vandalism and other crimes, a victim offender reconciliation program run by Community Justice Initiatives in British Columbia, community-based chaplaincies for offenders on re-entry, and other church-based structures for accountability and support for ex-offenders.
Editor. Restorative Justice Center Opens in Maine: The opening of the Restorative Justice Center of Maine on September 13 2004, marked another milestone for the Maine Council of Churches’ (MCC) vision of making the practice of restorative justice a viable option in Maine. The Council’s involvement in criminal and juvenile justice issues spans twenty years during which its search for alternative and effective policies brought about an exploration of restorative justice and an ever stronger advocacy for restorative justice principles. Author's abstract.
Finger Lakes Restorative Justice Center: The Finger Lakes Restorative Justice Center provides restorative justice services to the nine counties of the Genesee/Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. Dr. Mary Jeanette Ebenhack, co-director, provides this overview of the organization's development.
For the love of the Amish: Japanese can’t get enough of the Plain-sect culture
Furness, Amanda. Turning Toward Compassion: Restorative Justice works to develop youths' conscience: It isn't enough just to boss them around. Parents, teachers and court authorities have found this statement to be true in their dealings with many of today's youth - often losing their children to the system after forced discipline fails to work. A method recently introduced in New Orleans called the "restorative justice" movement is hoping to revolutionize the relationships between youth and their communities by exhibiting the most basic human emotion. Love. (extract)

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Navigation Lecture Hall Introduction to Restorative Justice Restorative Justice around the World Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East North America and the Caribbean Indigenous Community Government Prison Re-entry Initiatives Child Welfare Juvenile Justice Legislation Court Cases Evaluation Articles from RJ Online All Documents Pacific Educational Opportunities Restorative Justice Theory Making Amends Restorative Justice Course Syllabi Book Reviews Video Reviews Real People, Real Stories Practice Manuals Evaluation Research Evaluation Tools Role Plays Using Restorative Practices	Info Community Community based interventions have played an important role in the development of restorative justice practice in this region. . Circles of Support & Accountability: A National Replication of Outcome Findings Results show that the offenders who participated in COSA had significantly lower rates of any type of reoffending than did the matched comparison offenders who did not participate in COSA. Specifically, offenders who participated in COSA had an 83% reduction in sexual recidivism in contrast to the matched comparison group (2.1% vs. 12.8%), a 73% reduction in all types of violent recidivism (including sexual – 8.5% vs. 31.9%), and an overall reduction of 72% in all types of recidivism (including violent and sexual – 10.6% vs. 38.3%). Overall, COSA participants were responsible for considerably less sexual, violent, and general offending in comparison to the matched comparison group. (excerpt) 2nd Chance Staffing from the organization's website: To ex-offenders: We employ motivated men and women that have made concrete changes in their lives. A change to us means having become a law-abiding member of the community who understands there is no replacement for hard work and dedication. If you fit this bill, we are looking for you. We care about your skills, your mindset, and your future -- not your past. To businesses: At 2nd Chance, we provide top-quality employees for companies of all sizes. Because we have consistently provided loyal, hardworking employees for Fortune 500 companies across the country, we have seen first-hand how well our business model works. Whether you are searching for long-term employees or temp-to-hire positions, 2nd Chance can help! A visionary judge makes restorative justice come alive in Alabama from Ken Kimsey's entry on Fairness Works: In a six-part video series, Judge McCooey talks passionately about her believe that justice requires much more than the court system provides, especially in the area of giving crime victims the opportunity to meet the offenders, face-to-face, in a safe place, and to do so on a voluntary basis. (If you walk out of here and find someone has stolen your car radio, chances are you don’t have much interest in meeting the thief, she says in one segment. But the more deeply you have been hurt, the more likely you want to meet the offender and ask questions like “why?”.) As appealing as her speaking style and warmth is her story about the unorthodox path that led her to the bench. Serving as a judge was never in her long-range plans, but when she won her first election against a well-established Montgomery lawyer, surprising herself in the process, she knew there were some new thing she wanted to try. Finding ways of implementing a restorative justice program was among them, and she set about methodically but quietly to make this happen. Aharan, Peter and Lewis, Alice. Community Justice Circles and Community Development The Saint Leonard’s Society of London began an Alternative Measures Program in 1988 in London, Ontario, Canada. This program gives young offenders charged with minor offenses the opportunity to make amends for their behavior outside of the formal court process. Building on the success of this program, in 1995 Saint Leonard’s began to develop the concept of community justice circles. Saint Leonard’s adapted these circles from aboriginal practices to include the participation of members from the young person’s own community and the victim in all aspects of the Alternative Measures Program. With this in mind, Arahan and Lewis describe the principles and operation of community justice circles in relation to community development in London, Ontario. Baron, Linda. Fourteen Months in a FEMA Field Office: A Special Kind of Community Mediation. Mediating in FEMA was nothing like the court, community, and agency-based programs that I was familiar with. There were no intake forms, no dedicated mediation rooms, no established protocols or procedures, and no one knew much about mediation and conflict resolution. In most mediation programs, mediation is an alternative to something – an alternative to litigation, prosecution, investigation, or some other kind of more formal process. In FEMA, when workplace disputes become intolerable, someone is usually “released” (i.e., sent home). That person may eventually be deployed to another disaster, and might even find himself working next to the same person he had a conflict with in the last disaster. One of our tasks, as in any workplace mediation program, was to facilitate more satisfactory resolution of conflicts both for the present situation, and for t he future. (excerpt) Buller, Ed. Aboriginal Community Healing Processes In Canada. Issues of abuse within families and particularly Aboriginal families have been brought to the surface in Canada over the last decade. In response, a growing number of Aboriginal communities are developing holistic models of treatment for Aboriginal victims, offenders, families and the community as a whole. The approach taken is one that addresses the root causes of criminal activity and proactively engages offenders, victims and families to break the cycle of abuse. These initiatives work within the current criminal justice system while bringing a unique alternative to imprisonment that can lead to stronger and safer communities. Communities engaged in these healing approaches have seen benefits in terms of significantly reduced criminal activity and several other social benefits. There is not one universally recognized definition of community healing. Some have described healing as being “about collective approaches to change that enhance Aboriginal cultural identity. It is about family and community crisis intervention, integrated human services, political cooperation and public participation in processes of planned change and institution building.”i The Four Worlds Centre for Development Education concludes that healing “ may therefore be strategically described as a process of removing barriers and building the capacity of people and communities to address the determinants of health.(excerpt) Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Church Council News: Connecting the Dots The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. In collaboration with the Correctional Service of Canada, the CCJC conducted three “Connecting the Dots‿ forums in the following locations: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Lethbridge, Alberta; and Prince George, British Columbia. Each meeting consisted of a two-day, community-based Healing Justice Education Forum. By bringing together faith and community representatives, including criminal justice professionals, the forums sought to educate and engage participants in terms of the relevance and application of restorative and community-strengthening tools towards healthier and safer places to live. This document presents a final report on the forums. Among other contents, it contains testimonials from participants; the origin, purpose, and structure of the forums; local partners and attendees; evaluation of the goals of the project; and networking and new initiative results of the forums. Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Interim Report: Toward an Integrated Model of Justice The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. The CCJC received project funding for an initiative, “Toward and Integrated Model of Justice.‿ The aim of the initiative is to build on the experience and success of the Collaborative Justice Project. The Collaborative Justice Project, operating out of the court house in Ottawa, applies restorative justice principles and processes in bringing together offenders, victims, families, and support people between an admission of guilt and prior to sentencing. This initiative, as explained in the interim report on progress, is intended to enhance and integrate this restorative justice model by extending it to new uses in the Canadian criminal justice system. Churches grapple with whether to welcome convicted sex offenders from the article by Adelle M. Banks in the Washington Post: "All are welcome" is a common phrase on many a church sign and Web site. But what happens when a convicted sex offender is at the door? Church officials and legal advocates are grappling with how -- and whether -- people who have been convicted of sex crimes should be included in U.S. congregations, especially when children are present: 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. Collaborative Justice Project. Collaborative Justice Report: Year End Report on the Collaborative Justice Project The Collaborative Justice Project (CJP) is a demonstration project in the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton that began in September 1998. The aim of the project is to show how a restorative approach in cases of serious crime can deliver more satisfying justice to victims, offenders, and communities. It is an initiative of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC), a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. Published on March 31, 2002, this is the year end report on the project. It describes what the project is not, cases handled by the project, the process for dealing with a case, case statistics, volunteers, public education, evaluation, and project staff. Collaborative Justice Project. Lessons Learned in the Collaborative Justice Project The Collaborative Justice Project (CJP) is a demonstration project in the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton that began in September 1998. The aim of the project is to show how a restorative approach in cases of serious crime can deliver more satisfying justice to victims, offenders, and communities. It is an initiative of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC), a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. This short document lists, with brief explanations, some chief lessons learned from the operation of the CJP. These lessons include, among others, the value of providing more information to victims, offenders, and communities; the need for much more public education about restorative justice; and a restorative model can work within the current justice system, however difficult it is to do so. Community Justice Centre of Comox Valley. The Community Justice Centre of the Comox Valley Society in British Colombia, Canada has been providing restorative services since 1998. Edwarde O’Donnel and Karen Rushton provide an overview of the programme and of an in-house evaluation of participant satisfaction. Cormier, Robert B. An Excerpt from the Speech, “Restorative Justice: Pathways and Pathfinders. Robert Cormier, of the Department of the Solicitor General in Canada, gave the keynote address at the launch of Restorative Justice Week 2003, a week dedicated to education about and advancement of restorative justice among churches and the public in general. In his address, Cormier highlighted a promising restorative justice initiative and certain people with the vision to promote and implement restorative justice. The project is the Collaborative Justice Project, operating out of the court house in Ottawa. It is designed to apply restorative justice principles after an admission of guilt but prior to sentencing. It brings together the offender, victims, families, and support people to address the harm caused by the offense. Some key people behind this project include members of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Dooley, Michael. "Vermont Reparative Probation." This report summarizes Vermont's (as state in the U.S.) restructuring of its corrections philosophy and practices. This includes a "Reparative Programs" service track designed for offenders who commit non-violent offenses who demonstrate a low risk of re-offending. The focus of this track is to require the offender to make reparations to the victim and to the community. This track features a program called Reparative Probation-which directly involves the community in the sentencing and monitoring functions of the Vermont state criminal justice process. Vermont's reparative "model" is based on a "paradigm shift" from a more "Retributive" to a "Restorative" form of justice. Driedger, Otto. Faith Communities Respond to Restorative Justice While Otto Driedger refers to faith communities "responding" to restorative justice, he contends that they really are not "responding." Rather, faith communities actually gave rise to the modern restorative justice movement. From this perspective, Driedger goes on to point out ways in which churches are involved in applying restorative ideas and practices to crime victims, offenders, and communities. In particular he highlights victim assistance by the Mennonite Central Committee, a video by the Presbyterian Church USA on restorative responses to vandalism and other crimes, a victim offender reconciliation program run by Community Justice Initiatives in British Columbia, community-based chaplaincies for offenders on re-entry, and other church-based structures for accountability and support for ex-offenders. Editor. Restorative Justice Center Opens in Maine The opening of the Restorative Justice Center of Maine on September 13 2004, marked another milestone for the Maine Council of Churches’ (MCC) vision of making the practice of restorative justice a viable option in Maine. The Council’s involvement in criminal and juvenile justice issues spans twenty years during which its search for alternative and effective policies brought about an exploration of restorative justice and an ever stronger advocacy for restorative justice principles. Author's abstract. Finger Lakes Restorative Justice Center The Finger Lakes Restorative Justice Center provides restorative justice services to the nine counties of the Genesee/Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. Dr. Mary Jeanette Ebenhack, co-director, provides this overview of the organization's development. For the love of the Amish: Japanese can’t get enough of the Plain-sect culture Furness, Amanda. Turning Toward Compassion: Restorative Justice works to develop youths' conscience It isn't enough just to boss them around. Parents, teachers and court authorities have found this statement to be true in their dealings with many of today's youth - often losing their children to the system after forced discipline fails to work. A method recently introduced in New Orleans called the "restorative justice" movement is hoping to revolutionize the relationships between youth and their communities by exhibiting the most basic human emotion. Love. (extract) Next 20 items » [1] 2 3 Document Actions Send this Print this	Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East North America and Caribbean Pacific Search 10530 publications on restorative justice Recent RJOB Comments conference May 07, 2012 conference May 07, 2012 Agreement to participate May 04, 2012 More… Slide Show: What is Restorative Justice Click to view a slideshow discussing the definition of restorative justice. May 25, 2012 Project Myriam celebrates 10 years May 24, 2012 InnerChange Freedom Initiative Celebrating 15 years Apr 25, 2012 Sycamore Tree Programme from Prison Fellowship England and Wales Apr 13, 2012 PF Swaziland volunteer brings victims and offenders together Apr 13, 2012 PF Nicaragua providing legal services for prisoners