North America and Caribbean

Provides articles discussing restorative justice advancements in North America and the Caribbean. Articles appear in the order in which they were added to the site with the most recent appearing first.

Youth win on Chicago Public Schools guards, grievance process: from the article by Curtis Black on communitymediaworkshop.org: In a victory for two youth organizing drives, CPS has agreed to establish a grievance procedure for students experiencing violence, harassment or discrimination, and to pilot a program training security guards to use principles of restorative justice in their work. Both campaigns promote the restorative justice approach – emphasizing accountability as an alternative to zero tolerance and punitive discipline – as a more effective approach to reducing violence, said Sam Finkelstein of GenderJust, an LGTB student group that protested at CPS headquarters and at CPS chief Ron Huberman’s home to demand a grievance procedure.
Huikahi Restorative Circles: A public health approach for reentry planning: from the article by Lorenn Walker and Rebecca Greening in Federal Probation: ....The Huikahi Restorative Circle is a group process for reentry planning that involves the incarcerated individual, his or her family and friends, and at least one prison representative. The process was developed in 2005 in collaboration with two community-based organizations—the Hawai’i Friends of Civic &Law Related Education and the Community Alliance on Prisons—and the Waiawa Correctional Facility located on the island of O’ahu.
‘Puppies for Parole’ making a difference: from Mark Morris' article in the Kansas City Star: Puppies for Parole, as the Missouri Department of Corrections calls the program, is at work in eight state prisons, where offenders have the time and patience to give dogs from shelters basic obedience training.
Offenders provide for food pantries: from Vicki Rock's article in the Daily American: People sentenced to probation are working in a community garden that provides fresh produce to food pantries in Somerset County. “This is a learning experience and is part of BARJ — Balanced and Restorative Justice — that teaches offenders that they need to work to benefit the community,” said Michael Sopich, community service coordinator. “This is good for the community — people who may not be able to afford produce can get it. Those who work in the garden learn where produce comes from and they can then put in gardens at home.” A community garden had been in Somerset years ago, but was stopped. The probation department restarted the garden last year. Robert and Tomalee Will donated about one acre for the garden. They use their farm equipment and fertilizer to prepare the soil. Will also planted 24 rows of corn.
What were they thinking? Horse farms and inmates?: from the blog entry by Peter Hermann on BaltimoreSun.com: It was one of those feel-good programs that come across reporters' desks nearly every day. This was from the state prison system: "Restorative Justice Benefits Women Inmates and Starving Horses." Here's what the news release said: The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services today added yet another to its growing list of unique restorative justice inmate initiatives, putting a work crew comprised of female inmates at Howard County’s Days End Farm Horse Rescue. The inmates, from the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCI-W) in Jessup, will begin with grounds maintenance and landscaping, and eventually move into equine care. “What we try to do with these restorative justice programs is not only give inmates skills and the chance to pay back the society they’ve harmed, but meaningful projects that really do make a difference in the lives of people -- and in this case, horses,” said DPSCS Secretary Gary Maynard. Only state prison officials forgot to tell the neighbors of the horse farm, as well as the young volunteers who work there. Now, state officials have shut down the program, according to a story by The Baltimore Sun's Larry Carson.
Restorative justice is neighborhood effort in Seward and Greater Longfellow: from the article by Elaine Klaassen in Southside Pride: The Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice Partnership is a joint project with Seward Neighbor-hood Group and Longfellow Community Council. Since its inception there has been wide neighborhood support for a program that instead of sending juvenile offenders through the court system allows them to make amends, or at least make things as right as possible. The premise of the program is that “crime damages people, communities and relationships. If crime is about harm, then justice should emphasize repairing the harm.”
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.
Mississippi officials agree to settlement in '64 slayings: from Michele Norris' interview on NPR.org: On May 2nd, 1964 in the tiny town of Meadville, Mississippi, two 19-year-old black men disappeared while walking along a highway on the edge of town. Two months later, the partial remains of a black man washed ashore in a remote stretch of the Mississippi River. Police identified the victim as Charles Moore, based on a college I.D. in a pants pocket. Another two months passed before FBI investigators got an anonymous tip about the disappearance of Moore and his friend, Henry Dee. That informant described how Dee and Moore were kidnapped by the Ku Klux Klan and driven to a wooded area where they were beaten and then tied to an old engine block before being dumped into the river while they were still alive. The families of the two young men filed a civil lawsuit against Franklin County, Mississippi, claiming that local law enforcement officials aided and abetted the Klan. And today they reached a settlement. Margaret Burnham is one of their attorneys. She's the director of the Civil Rights Restorative Justice program at Northeastern University, and she joins us now. Welcome to the program, Professor Burnham.
Corrections: from Deborah Luskins' commentary on Vermont Public Radio The population of Vermont has grown only ten percent in the last twenty years, and violent crime in that same period has dropped by thirty percent. But during these same years Vermont's prisDeborah Luskins' commentary on on population has swelled, and the cost of incarceration has skyrocketed. In these twenty years, Vermont has created more prison beds - and filled them - and still has to send some offenders out of state.
Mexico and New Orleans Learn About Restorative Practices: From the 11 June Restorative Practices E-Forum by Laura Mirsky: Both Mexico and New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, are experiencing high incidences of crime and violence. To find new ways to deal with this issue, participants from both locations recently attended special four-day immersion events at the IIRP’s Bethlehem campus. An April 26-29 event involved 30 criminal and juvenile justice officials from 10 states in Mexico; a May 11-14 immersion included 15 educators and youth-justice professionals from New Orleans. Both groups spent two days visiting the IIRP’s model program schools for at-risk youth, operated by Community Service Foundation and Buxmont Academy (CSF Buxmont), and two days training in restorative practices. The participants were very excited about what they observed and learned, and most are hoping to begin implementing restorative practices when they return home. The seeds for the Mexicans’ visit were planted when John Bailie, IIRP director of trainers and lecturer at the IIRP Graduate School, presented a paper at the First International Restorative Justice Conference: Humanizing the Approach to Criminal Justice, in Oaxaca, Mexico, in September 2008. Subsequently, Nancy Flemming, coordinator of the alternative justice area of MSI’s (Management Systems International) Programa de Apoyo para el Estado de Derecho en México [Support Program for the Rule of Law in Mexico — PRODERECHO] project, funded by USAID organized the IIRP visit to help immersion attendees find ways to improve their respective states’ criminal justice systems. This undertaking was mandated by a 2006 amendment to the Mexican constitution requiring states to reform their penal codes to make them more effective and more humane — to include oral trials, the right to legal counsel and other legal prerogatives. Many of the immersion participants are involved in this reform process, in a variety of ways.
Ex-Chicago Cop on trial for torturing confessions from hundreds of Black Men: from Jeff Mays' article on www.washingtoninformer.com: ....Flint Taylor, an attorney who represented many clients who say they were tortured by Burge, said the next battle is to change the laws regarding torture. "Well, that's the statute of limitations problem and one of the many unaddressed issues in Chicago. We are very pleased that Burge is being prosecuted, but there is much left to do, and that includes dealing with federal and state statutes, legislation that would make torture a specific crime," said Taylor. "And since it's a crime against humanity, there would be no statute of limitations, like there is no statute of limitations for genocide or murder. And in that instance, in the future, if there were another Burge or other torture -- another torture ring and it were covered up successfully for many years, then he could still or they could still be prosecuted for torture," Taylor added.
Expert: End zero tolerance policies: from Mark Guydish's article in timesleader.com: An education-law advocacy group said ending zero-tolerance policies in schools as recommended in the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice on Thursday would have benefits far beyond the commission’s goal of preventing a recurrence of the “kids-for-cash” scandal seen in Luzerne County. “Statistics show that any contact students have with police increases the likelihood of future contacts,” Education Law Center staff attorney David Lapp said. “People have termed it the ‘prison pipeline.’” Zero tolerance became popular after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado, and former county Juvenile Court judge Mark Ciavarella openly advocated zero tolerance for many students who were brought to his bench. Ciavarella and former county judge Michael Conahan are accused of accepting millions of dollars for actions that benefited a private juvenile detention facility in Pittston Township.
What happens at the end of the year: Greg Lawton's post on Central Michigan Restorative Justice Initiative: It's late May. The last day of school for 2009-10 is about 11 days away. For most of the students, teachers, faculty and staff it couldn't come sooner. For Restorative Justice workers like myself, it can be a difficult time. Due to the cumulative effect of discipline, minor misconduct can result in suspension, often for the rest of the year. Student follow-ups are hard to do because of absences, field trips, and assemblies. Day to day operations take a different tack. I find myself wanting to be part of the whole school effort to end well and I practice being a peaceful presence all the more.
At this prison graduation, the focus is on knowing the effects of their crimes: from Doug Erickson's article in Wisconsin State Journal: ....During this season of high school and college graduations, 16 men received a very different kind of diploma Monday at Columbia Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison. Over three months, the inmates voluntarily completed a 30-session course on restorative justice, a curriculum meant to help them understand how much they'd harmed their victims, the community and themselves. For some of them, Monday's graduation ceremony was the first time they'd done anything worthy of even minimal praise. "I've been in all sorts of programs and always been kicked out," said Darren Morris, 33, whose peers voted him class speaker.
Ann Arbor schools need to move to a restorative justice model of discipline: from the guest column by Joe Summers: Over the past year, the children of two sets of friends have gotten into trouble giving me a chance to watch our current system in practice. In one case, I heard teacher after teacher testify that the youth had been exceptional, and never caused harm, only to be astounded to hear a panel of principals and vice principals rule that the youth should be permanently expelled from Ann Arbor's school system.
Tougher legislation needed on hate crimes: from Kristopher Wells and Murray Billett's article in the Edmonton Journal: ....Here in Canada, the gravity of hate crimes was officially recognized in 1970, when the government amended the Criminal Code to include hate propaganda as a punishable offence. In 1996, the government also introduced enhanced sentencing provisions for offences motivated by hate, and in 2001 included mischief to religious property as a specific hate-motivated offence. Despite this evolution, we argue that these legislative responses to hate have not gone far enough. The problem most concerning to many diverse communities and law enforcement officials involves the fact that there are still no direct provisions in the Criminal Code to identify hate crime as a violent offence (such as assault) or as a crime against a person or individual property (such as vandalism).
MHA salutes Dennis Wittman: from Paul Mrozek's article in The Daily News: Dennis Wittman said Tuesday he didn't do anything special in his 25 years of leading the county's Genesee Justice program. People who attended the Mental Health Association of Genesee County annual meeting heard a different recounting of Witman's career. Wittman received the Constance E. Miller Award, given to a person who shows a strong commitment to mental health treatment in the community. ...."I believe he has gone above and beyond. If you know Dennis Witman, you know that he's excellent," said Kathy France, former board member with the Mental Health Association, the organization that presented Wittman with his award.
Church arsonist doubts God will forgive him: from Alexandra Zabjek's article in the Edmonton Journal: A man who torched two Wetaskiwin churches in what a judge described as a "totally senseless wanton act of destruction" was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison. But he was offered hope by one of the ministers whose church was destroyed. "We have not been abandoned and we don't want you, Peter Terence Jones, to feel abandoned," Wetaskiwin First United Church minister Ruth Lumax told the 24-year-old arsonist in her victim impact statement, which was read in court.
What's next for Minnesota's ex-cons?: from Rubén Rosario's article on TwinCities.com: What does it really take to keep a person from going back to prison? Let's see. Resources that work, perhaps faith and prayers, a change in peers or environment, and, most important of all, the willingness and commitment of the offender to do what it takes to make that change. ....Given that up to 95 percent of offenders eventually return to society, we need to do better. According to one major study, two-thirds of offenders are arrested again within three years of their release. In Minnesota, up to 36 percent of offenders are sent back to prison for a felony within three years of release, pretty much mirroring the national situation. ....Minnesota's Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP) was devised five years ago and funded three years ago to help cut the recidivism rate.
Restorative Justice and Campus Conduct Administration: In March, Eastern Mennonite University hosted a symposium exploring the use of restorative practices in college campus conduct administration. These short YouTube videos feature two of the participants describing their experiences with using restorative practices to respond to student misconduct. Josh Bacon, the director of Judicial Affairs at James Madison University in Virginia, describes how implementing restorative practices rejuvenated his career.It gives him the opportunity to interact with students and community members.

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Canada \| Jamaica \| United States Youth win on Chicago Public Schools guards, grievance process from the article by Curtis Black on communitymediaworkshop.org: In a victory for two youth organizing drives, CPS has agreed to establish a grievance procedure for students experiencing violence, harassment or discrimination, and to pilot a program training security guards to use principles of restorative justice in their work. Both campaigns promote the restorative justice approach – emphasizing accountability as an alternative to zero tolerance and punitive discipline – as a more effective approach to reducing violence, said Sam Finkelstein of GenderJust, an LGTB student group that protested at CPS headquarters and at CPS chief Ron Huberman’s home to demand a grievance procedure. Huikahi Restorative Circles: A public health approach for reentry planning from the article by Lorenn Walker and Rebecca Greening in Federal Probation: ....The Huikahi Restorative Circle is a group process for reentry planning that involves the incarcerated individual, his or her family and friends, and at least one prison representative. The process was developed in 2005 in collaboration with two community-based organizations—the Hawai’i Friends of Civic &Law Related Education and the Community Alliance on Prisons—and the Waiawa Correctional Facility located on the island of O’ahu. ‘Puppies for Parole’ making a difference from Mark Morris' article in the Kansas City Star: Puppies for Parole, as the Missouri Department of Corrections calls the program, is at work in eight state prisons, where offenders have the time and patience to give dogs from shelters basic obedience training. Offenders provide for food pantries from Vicki Rock's article in the Daily American: People sentenced to probation are working in a community garden that provides fresh produce to food pantries in Somerset County. “This is a learning experience and is part of BARJ — Balanced and Restorative Justice — that teaches offenders that they need to work to benefit the community,” said Michael Sopich, community service coordinator. “This is good for the community — people who may not be able to afford produce can get it. Those who work in the garden learn where produce comes from and they can then put in gardens at home.” A community garden had been in Somerset years ago, but was stopped. The probation department restarted the garden last year. Robert and Tomalee Will donated about one acre for the garden. They use their farm equipment and fertilizer to prepare the soil. Will also planted 24 rows of corn. What were they thinking? Horse farms and inmates? from the blog entry by Peter Hermann on BaltimoreSun.com: It was one of those feel-good programs that come across reporters' desks nearly every day. This was from the state prison system: "Restorative Justice Benefits Women Inmates and Starving Horses." Here's what the news release said: The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services today added yet another to its growing list of unique restorative justice inmate initiatives, putting a work crew comprised of female inmates at Howard County’s Days End Farm Horse Rescue. The inmates, from the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCI-W) in Jessup, will begin with grounds maintenance and landscaping, and eventually move into equine care. “What we try to do with these restorative justice programs is not only give inmates skills and the chance to pay back the society they’ve harmed, but meaningful projects that really do make a difference in the lives of people -- and in this case, horses,” said DPSCS Secretary Gary Maynard. Only state prison officials forgot to tell the neighbors of the horse farm, as well as the young volunteers who work there. Now, state officials have shut down the program, according to a story by The Baltimore Sun's Larry Carson. Restorative justice is neighborhood effort in Seward and Greater Longfellow from the article by Elaine Klaassen in Southside Pride: The Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice Partnership is a joint project with Seward Neighbor-hood Group and Longfellow Community Council. Since its inception there has been wide neighborhood support for a program that instead of sending juvenile offenders through the court system allows them to make amends, or at least make things as right as possible. The premise of the program is that “crime damages people, communities and relationships. If crime is about harm, then justice should emphasize repairing the harm.” 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. Mississippi officials agree to settlement in '64 slayings from Michele Norris' interview on NPR.org: On May 2nd, 1964 in the tiny town of Meadville, Mississippi, two 19-year-old black men disappeared while walking along a highway on the edge of town. Two months later, the partial remains of a black man washed ashore in a remote stretch of the Mississippi River. Police identified the victim as Charles Moore, based on a college I.D. in a pants pocket. Another two months passed before FBI investigators got an anonymous tip about the disappearance of Moore and his friend, Henry Dee. That informant described how Dee and Moore were kidnapped by the Ku Klux Klan and driven to a wooded area where they were beaten and then tied to an old engine block before being dumped into the river while they were still alive. The families of the two young men filed a civil lawsuit against Franklin County, Mississippi, claiming that local law enforcement officials aided and abetted the Klan. And today they reached a settlement. Margaret Burnham is one of their attorneys. She's the director of the Civil Rights Restorative Justice program at Northeastern University, and she joins us now. Welcome to the program, Professor Burnham. Corrections from Deborah Luskins' commentary on Vermont Public Radio The population of Vermont has grown only ten percent in the last twenty years, and violent crime in that same period has dropped by thirty percent. But during these same years Vermont's prisDeborah Luskins' commentary on on population has swelled, and the cost of incarceration has skyrocketed. In these twenty years, Vermont has created more prison beds - and filled them - and still has to send some offenders out of state. Mexico and New Orleans Learn About Restorative Practices From the 11 June Restorative Practices E-Forum by Laura Mirsky: Both Mexico and New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, are experiencing high incidences of crime and violence. To find new ways to deal with this issue, participants from both locations recently attended special four-day immersion events at the IIRP’s Bethlehem campus. An April 26-29 event involved 30 criminal and juvenile justice officials from 10 states in Mexico; a May 11-14 immersion included 15 educators and youth-justice professionals from New Orleans. Both groups spent two days visiting the IIRP’s model program schools for at-risk youth, operated by Community Service Foundation and Buxmont Academy (CSF Buxmont), and two days training in restorative practices. The participants were very excited about what they observed and learned, and most are hoping to begin implementing restorative practices when they return home. The seeds for the Mexicans’ visit were planted when John Bailie, IIRP director of trainers and lecturer at the IIRP Graduate School, presented a paper at the First International Restorative Justice Conference: Humanizing the Approach to Criminal Justice, in Oaxaca, Mexico, in September 2008. Subsequently, Nancy Flemming, coordinator of the alternative justice area of MSI’s (Management Systems International) Programa de Apoyo para el Estado de Derecho en México [Support Program for the Rule of Law in Mexico — PRODERECHO] project, funded by USAID organized the IIRP visit to help immersion attendees find ways to improve their respective states’ criminal justice systems. This undertaking was mandated by a 2006 amendment to the Mexican constitution requiring states to reform their penal codes to make them more effective and more humane — to include oral trials, the right to legal counsel and other legal prerogatives. Many of the immersion participants are involved in this reform process, in a variety of ways. Ex-Chicago Cop on trial for torturing confessions from hundreds of Black Men from Jeff Mays' article on www.washingtoninformer.com: ....Flint Taylor, an attorney who represented many clients who say they were tortured by Burge, said the next battle is to change the laws regarding torture. "Well, that's the statute of limitations problem and one of the many unaddressed issues in Chicago. We are very pleased that Burge is being prosecuted, but there is much left to do, and that includes dealing with federal and state statutes, legislation that would make torture a specific crime," said Taylor. "And since it's a crime against humanity, there would be no statute of limitations, like there is no statute of limitations for genocide or murder. And in that instance, in the future, if there were another Burge or other torture -- another torture ring and it were covered up successfully for many years, then he could still or they could still be prosecuted for torture," Taylor added. Expert: End zero tolerance policies from Mark Guydish's article in timesleader.com: An education-law advocacy group said ending zero-tolerance policies in schools as recommended in the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice on Thursday would have benefits far beyond the commission’s goal of preventing a recurrence of the “kids-for-cash” scandal seen in Luzerne County. “Statistics show that any contact students have with police increases the likelihood of future contacts,” Education Law Center staff attorney David Lapp said. “People have termed it the ‘prison pipeline.’” Zero tolerance became popular after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado, and former county Juvenile Court judge Mark Ciavarella openly advocated zero tolerance for many students who were brought to his bench. Ciavarella and former county judge Michael Conahan are accused of accepting millions of dollars for actions that benefited a private juvenile detention facility in Pittston Township. What happens at the end of the year Greg Lawton's post on Central Michigan Restorative Justice Initiative: It's late May. The last day of school for 2009-10 is about 11 days away. For most of the students, teachers, faculty and staff it couldn't come sooner. For Restorative Justice workers like myself, it can be a difficult time. Due to the cumulative effect of discipline, minor misconduct can result in suspension, often for the rest of the year. Student follow-ups are hard to do because of absences, field trips, and assemblies. Day to day operations take a different tack. I find myself wanting to be part of the whole school effort to end well and I practice being a peaceful presence all the more. At this prison graduation, the focus is on knowing the effects of their crimes from Doug Erickson's article in Wisconsin State Journal: ....During this season of high school and college graduations, 16 men received a very different kind of diploma Monday at Columbia Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison. Over three months, the inmates voluntarily completed a 30-session course on restorative justice, a curriculum meant to help them understand how much they'd harmed their victims, the community and themselves. For some of them, Monday's graduation ceremony was the first time they'd done anything worthy of even minimal praise. "I've been in all sorts of programs and always been kicked out," said Darren Morris, 33, whose peers voted him class speaker. Ann Arbor schools need to move to a restorative justice model of discipline from the guest column by Joe Summers: Over the past year, the children of two sets of friends have gotten into trouble giving me a chance to watch our current system in practice. In one case, I heard teacher after teacher testify that the youth had been exceptional, and never caused harm, only to be astounded to hear a panel of principals and vice principals rule that the youth should be permanently expelled from Ann Arbor's school system. Tougher legislation needed on hate crimes from Kristopher Wells and Murray Billett's article in the Edmonton Journal: ....Here in Canada, the gravity of hate crimes was officially recognized in 1970, when the government amended the Criminal Code to include hate propaganda as a punishable offence. In 1996, the government also introduced enhanced sentencing provisions for offences motivated by hate, and in 2001 included mischief to religious property as a specific hate-motivated offence. Despite this evolution, we argue that these legislative responses to hate have not gone far enough. The problem most concerning to many diverse communities and law enforcement officials involves the fact that there are still no direct provisions in the Criminal Code to identify hate crime as a violent offence (such as assault) or as a crime against a person or individual property (such as vandalism). MHA salutes Dennis Wittman from Paul Mrozek's article in The Daily News: Dennis Wittman said Tuesday he didn't do anything special in his 25 years of leading the county's Genesee Justice program. People who attended the Mental Health Association of Genesee County annual meeting heard a different recounting of Witman's career. Wittman received the Constance E. Miller Award, given to a person who shows a strong commitment to mental health treatment in the community. ...."I believe he has gone above and beyond. If you know Dennis Witman, you know that he's excellent," said Kathy France, former board member with the Mental Health Association, the organization that presented Wittman with his award. Church arsonist doubts God will forgive him from Alexandra Zabjek's article in the Edmonton Journal: A man who torched two Wetaskiwin churches in what a judge described as a "totally senseless wanton act of destruction" was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison. But he was offered hope by one of the ministers whose church was destroyed. "We have not been abandoned and we don't want you, Peter Terence Jones, to feel abandoned," Wetaskiwin First United Church minister Ruth Lumax told the 24-year-old arsonist in her victim impact statement, which was read in court. What's next for Minnesota's ex-cons? from Rubén Rosario's article on TwinCities.com: What does it really take to keep a person from going back to prison? Let's see. Resources that work, perhaps faith and prayers, a change in peers or environment, and, most important of all, the willingness and commitment of the offender to do what it takes to make that change. ....Given that up to 95 percent of offenders eventually return to society, we need to do better. According to one major study, two-thirds of offenders are arrested again within three years of their release. In Minnesota, up to 36 percent of offenders are sent back to prison for a felony within three years of release, pretty much mirroring the national situation. ....Minnesota's Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP) was devised five years ago and funded three years ago to help cut the recidivism rate. Restorative Justice and Campus Conduct Administration In March, Eastern Mennonite University hosted a symposium exploring the use of restorative practices in college campus conduct administration. These short YouTube videos feature two of the participants describing their experiences with using restorative practices to respond to student misconduct. Josh Bacon, the director of Judicial Affairs at James Madison University in Virginia, describes how implementing restorative practices rejuvenated his career.It gives him the opportunity to interact with students and community members. Next 20 items » [1] 2 3 4 ... 29 Document Actions Send this Print this	Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East North America and Caribbean Pacific Search 9932 publications on restorative justice Recent RJOB Comments Oakland as a RJ city? Jul 29, 2010 Trauma Jul 29, 2010 Psych Reports to BPT board Jul 29, 2010 More… Slide Show: What is Restorative Justice Click to view a slideshow discussing the definition of restorative justice. Jul 21, 2010 Promoting Restorative Justice in Panama Jul 28, 2010 Raising Community Awareness in Swaziland Jul 28, 2010 Exploring alternatives in Finland Jul 28, 2010 PF Rwanda Receives Grant for Reconciliation Work Jun 27, 2010 Restorative Justice in the Community.