Homicide

Perhaps surprisingly, restorative justice has been used extensively between murderers and the survivors of those they killed. On most occasions, restorative processes take place long after a sentence has been imposed, because of the length of time required for the survivors to become ready for this form of intervention. These articles describe and discuss this use of restorative justice.

Will it go 'round in circles?: from Stanley B. Chambers, Jr's article in the Durham News: Even as a 70-year-old grandmother, Daisy Waring admits she's still learning about herself. This lesson, though, comes at a high price. Her grandson, Byron Lamar Waring, is on death row for the 2005 Raleigh stabbing death of Lauren Redman. No one talks about it in her small town of Eutawville, S.C. So she kept her sadness and depression bottled up. She felt alone. Waring first learned about healing circles while attending a conference in 2007 for those like her. The tradition has been used for centuries to resolve conflict and make important community decisions. Healing circles have helped Waring so much that she travels to Durham every December for an event sponsored by the Capital Restorative Justice Project. "It really helped me to grow because I really felt empty," Waring said. "Cried all the time. When I leave them, I have hope that it's going to be all right. "It's an ongoing thing, but every day it gets better, and I'm learning to cope from it."
Restorative justice, survivors and the death penalty: by Dan Van Ness Two interesting items appeared on my desktop today, both about the death penalty. One, titled Conn. Home Invasion Survivor Faces Long Court Case, begins this way: NEW HAVEN, Conn. – At 52, Dr. William Petit faces years — perhaps decades — of emotionally draining court hearings before the two men charged with murdering his family in a 2007 home invasion may be convicted and executed.
Buntix, Kristel. Mediation in Homicide Cases: Opportunities and Risks.: This brief article provides a brief overview of victim offender mediation in Belgium from early pilots in youth justice to the implementation of restorative justice programmes in Belgian prisons.
Lemonne, Anne. Victim Policy and Restorative Justice Policy Regarding Serious Cases in Belgium.: The presentation aims to analyse the evolution of restorative justice practices in Belgium in the light of the policy in favour of victims and hence to explore the potential paradoxes between restorative justice developments and victim policy. It focuses on the way the Belgian criminal justice system currently deals with victims in cases of serious violence. I a first part of the presentation, the contrast between existing programs (victim oriented programs such as victim impact statements at the level of conditional release and restorative justice programs such as mediation for redress) will be explored at a discursive level. In a second part of the presentation, results from interviews with victims and observations in victim services realised in the framework of an evaluative research on victim policy developed by the National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology will be discusses. Case studies and victim perceptions of the current measures implemented both in the field of victim programs and restorative justice programs will be presented. The purpose of the contribution is to highlight to which extent victim oriented and restorative justice programmes have the potential to answer to victims’ need and the explore potential paradoxes of restorative justice. (excerpt)
de la Camara, Belen and Guillamat, Ansel and Casado, Clara and de la Camara, Belen. Victim and Offender Reintegration in a Serious Crime Case. learning from Mediation During the Sentence.: This workshop aims to share the reflections and lessons from a restorative mediation done in a sexual offence case in which the victim was the sister of an offender’s friend and where the victim’s husband and the father also participated. The mediation process was managed by two mediators within the Mediation-Restoration Programme operating in the criminal justice system in Catalonia since 1998. The referral came from the Figueres Penitentiary Centre, more precisely from the professionals in charge of the inmate’s rehabilitation needs and it lasted for approximately a year, finishing in April 2005. (excerpt)
Coates, Robert B. and Vos, Betty and Brown, Katherine A. and Coates, Robert B. and Umbreit, Mark S. and Vos, Betty. Facilitated Dialogue on Death Row: Family Members of Murder Victims and Inmates Share Their Experiences.: The Texas Victim Offender Mediation/Dialogue Program chose to act upon the requests of the four victims [requesting dialogue with death row inmates] and obtained permission from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for the dialogues to take place. The following analysis of what these seven participants had to say about their experience is offered, in part, so that readers can reach their own conclusions about the impact of these meetings and the advisability of offering such a service in capital cases. (excerpt)
Burnett, Cathleen . Restorative Justice and Wrongful Capital Convictions: A Simple Proposal: In discussions regarding how to compensate those wrongfully convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned most of the strategies focus on the legal system as the appropriate arena for a remedy. The problem with legal remedies, however, is the unintended consequences that create barriers to reintegrating the wrongfully convicted back into society. Following a review of the problem, which is that those wrongfully convicted of serious crimes are not eligible for the minimal State supports offered to offenders released from prisons and are thus less prepared to reintegrate into society. In cases where they are eligible for the minimal supports, that is all they received in the form of legal redress. Most States do not have well-defined mechanisms to compensate those wrongfully convicted and only 20 States have mechanisms for seeking some amount of financial redress. The solutions currently available to compensate the wrongfully convicted are presented and critiqued as less than adequate. The three main types of solutions, lawsuits, private legislation, and private donations, all grew out of the legal system’s traditional justice model. The author presents a restorative justice solution to compensate the wrongfully convicted that is extrajudicial and is grounded in the executive branch’s responsibility to provide for the administration of justice. The main argument is that State resources should help the wrongfully convicted integrate back into their legitimate community life; an emphasis is placed on community participation and support. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org

Sections

Homicide

Document Actions

Personal tools


Navigation Press Room What is Restorative Justice? Personal Stories Audio/Video Resources Stories from the Media Restorative Justice Processes Kinds of Crimes Theft Burglary Driving While Intoxicated Domestic Violence Hate Crime Sexual Violence and Abuse Violent Crimes Homicide Environmental Crimes White Collar Crime Restorative Justice around the World Uses Outside of Criminal Justice	Info Homicide Perhaps surprisingly, restorative justice has been used extensively between murderers and the survivors of those they killed. On most occasions, restorative processes take place long after a sentence has been imposed, because of the length of time required for the survivors to become ready for this form of intervention. These articles describe and discuss this use of restorative justice. Will it go 'round in circles? from Stanley B. Chambers, Jr's article in the Durham News: Even as a 70-year-old grandmother, Daisy Waring admits she's still learning about herself. This lesson, though, comes at a high price. Her grandson, Byron Lamar Waring, is on death row for the 2005 Raleigh stabbing death of Lauren Redman. No one talks about it in her small town of Eutawville, S.C. So she kept her sadness and depression bottled up. She felt alone. Waring first learned about healing circles while attending a conference in 2007 for those like her. The tradition has been used for centuries to resolve conflict and make important community decisions. Healing circles have helped Waring so much that she travels to Durham every December for an event sponsored by the Capital Restorative Justice Project. "It really helped me to grow because I really felt empty," Waring said. "Cried all the time. When I leave them, I have hope that it's going to be all right. "It's an ongoing thing, but every day it gets better, and I'm learning to cope from it." Restorative justice, survivors and the death penalty by Dan Van Ness Two interesting items appeared on my desktop today, both about the death penalty. One, titled Conn. Home Invasion Survivor Faces Long Court Case, begins this way: NEW HAVEN, Conn. – At 52, Dr. William Petit faces years — perhaps decades — of emotionally draining court hearings before the two men charged with murdering his family in a 2007 home invasion may be convicted and executed. Buntix, Kristel. Mediation in Homicide Cases: Opportunities and Risks. This brief article provides a brief overview of victim offender mediation in Belgium from early pilots in youth justice to the implementation of restorative justice programmes in Belgian prisons. Lemonne, Anne. Victim Policy and Restorative Justice Policy Regarding Serious Cases in Belgium. The presentation aims to analyse the evolution of restorative justice practices in Belgium in the light of the policy in favour of victims and hence to explore the potential paradoxes between restorative justice developments and victim policy. It focuses on the way the Belgian criminal justice system currently deals with victims in cases of serious violence. I a first part of the presentation, the contrast between existing programs (victim oriented programs such as victim impact statements at the level of conditional release and restorative justice programs such as mediation for redress) will be explored at a discursive level. In a second part of the presentation, results from interviews with victims and observations in victim services realised in the framework of an evaluative research on victim policy developed by the National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology will be discusses. Case studies and victim perceptions of the current measures implemented both in the field of victim programs and restorative justice programs will be presented. The purpose of the contribution is to highlight to which extent victim oriented and restorative justice programmes have the potential to answer to victims’ need and the explore potential paradoxes of restorative justice. (excerpt) de la Camara, Belen and Guillamat, Ansel and Casado, Clara and de la Camara, Belen. Victim and Offender Reintegration in a Serious Crime Case. learning from Mediation During the Sentence. This workshop aims to share the reflections and lessons from a restorative mediation done in a sexual offence case in which the victim was the sister of an offender’s friend and where the victim’s husband and the father also participated. The mediation process was managed by two mediators within the Mediation-Restoration Programme operating in the criminal justice system in Catalonia since 1998. The referral came from the Figueres Penitentiary Centre, more precisely from the professionals in charge of the inmate’s rehabilitation needs and it lasted for approximately a year, finishing in April 2005. (excerpt) Coates, Robert B. and Vos, Betty and Brown, Katherine A. and Coates, Robert B. and Umbreit, Mark S. and Vos, Betty. Facilitated Dialogue on Death Row: Family Members of Murder Victims and Inmates Share Their Experiences. The Texas Victim Offender Mediation/Dialogue Program chose to act upon the requests of the four victims [requesting dialogue with death row inmates] and obtained permission from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for the dialogues to take place. The following analysis of what these seven participants had to say about their experience is offered, in part, so that readers can reach their own conclusions about the impact of these meetings and the advisability of offering such a service in capital cases. (excerpt) Burnett, Cathleen . Restorative Justice and Wrongful Capital Convictions: A Simple Proposal In discussions regarding how to compensate those wrongfully convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned most of the strategies focus on the legal system as the appropriate arena for a remedy. The problem with legal remedies, however, is the unintended consequences that create barriers to reintegrating the wrongfully convicted back into society. Following a review of the problem, which is that those wrongfully convicted of serious crimes are not eligible for the minimal State supports offered to offenders released from prisons and are thus less prepared to reintegrate into society. In cases where they are eligible for the minimal supports, that is all they received in the form of legal redress. Most States do not have well-defined mechanisms to compensate those wrongfully convicted and only 20 States have mechanisms for seeking some amount of financial redress. The solutions currently available to compensate the wrongfully convicted are presented and critiqued as less than adequate. The three main types of solutions, lawsuits, private legislation, and private donations, all grew out of the legal system’s traditional justice model. The author presents a restorative justice solution to compensate the wrongfully convicted that is extrajudicial and is grounded in the executive branch’s responsibility to provide for the administration of justice. The main argument is that State resources should help the wrongfully convicted integrate back into their legitimate community life; an emphasis is placed on community participation and support. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org Document Actions RSS feed Send this Print this	A long-time repeat offender describes the impact of meeting with his victims.