News & Announcements
This executive summary of a study by Paul McCold, Ph.D., reports on the effect of restorative practices on reoffending, attitudes, and program completion among students at the CSF Buxmont schools in southeastern Pennsylvania. Dr. McCold presented this paper at the American Society of Criminology annual meeting, November 13-16, 2002, Chicago, Illinois.
Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology
annual meeting, November 13-16, 2002, Chicago, Illinois.
The IIRP gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the juvenile probation departments of Northampton, Bucks, Montgomery, and Lehigh counties, Pennsylvania, for providing access to court data used in this analysis.
The Community Service Foundation (CSF) and Buxmont Academy operate six school/day treatment programs (abbreviated as “CSF Buxmont schools”) in southeastern Pennsylvania. They are non-secure community treatment settings for adjudicated delinquent and at-risk youth.[1] Additionally, CSF operates three auxiliary programs—the residential, intensive supervision, and home and community programs. The residential program provides group home services to a portion of students attending CSF Buxmont schools. The intensive supervision program provides additional support to youth released from drug treatment facilities. Finally, the home and community program provides a variety of support services for youth experiencing family, emotional, and drug and alcohol related crises. Some students attending CSF Buxmont schools participate in multiple programs simultaneously.
This article originally appeared in the Federal Probation Journal, Volume 66, No. 1, June, 2002.
Author's Note
Lorenn Walker, J.D., M.P.H., is a health educator who designs violence prevention and resiliency development programs. She teaches administration of justice for the University of Hawaii Honolulu, and is a former trial lawyer who represented the State of Hawai‘i in civil claims and later defended indigent juveniles for law violations. She coordinates programs for the Hawai’i Friends of Civic and Law Related Education. Address correspondence to Lorenn Walker, P.O. Box 489, Waialua, Hawai’i, 96791. E-mail:
Paper presented at the International Conference on Violence in Schools
and Public Policies, Palais de l'UNESCO, Paris, March 5-7, 2001.
Paper to be published by The European Observatory of Violence in Schools.
Addressing school violence has no easy answers. There have been journeys down many different avenues. We have swung between the libertarian ideal of rehabilitation for the damaged lives of perpetrators of violence and the more conservative punitive just deserts approach. Broadly speaking, the former values compassion, while the latter values accountability for individuals' actions. Both approaches aim to (1) achieve behavioural change for the individual; (2) keep our schools and communities safe. The evidence is mixed as to what works best. Is it possible to incorporate both compassion and accountability in the sanctions we impose when dealing with school violence? Advocates of restorative justice answer a tentative yes to this question. Restorative justice is about building communities of care around individuals while not condoning harmful behavior, in other words holding individuals accountable for their actions. This paper will explore recent developments in the building of theory and practice in the area of restorative justice, particularly in terms of addressing one form of school violence — school bullying. Addressing violence in schools is a pressing social issue. It needs to take center stage in developing the roots of a civil society (Morrison, forthcoming).
On August 8-10, 2002, 300-plus people from all parts of the globe came together to change the world. That was my impression of the Third International IIRP (International Institute for Restorative Practices) Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
As a reporter for the Delaware Valley News, which covers Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Hunterdon County, New Jersey, I wrote an article in the spring of 2002 about a documentary film being shot about the IIRP’s restorative practices techniques, in use in a Bucks County school district. IIRP president Ted Wachtel saw the article and asked me to visit one of IIRP’s Community Service Foundation (CSF) schools in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where they also utilize restorative practices to record my impressions. Wachtel then asked me to cover the IIRP’s Minneapolis conference. In three days, I attended many conference sessions, interviewed numerous individuals for videotape and spoke to myriad participants. Folks had journeyed from as far away as Australia and New Zealand and hailed from places such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, the Antilles, the Philippines, the Middle East, Hong Kong, the Yukon and other parts of Canada and many of the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. Also striking was the number of different Native American and First Nation peoples represented from the Nishnawbe-Aski, Ashinabe, Secwepemc, Qagan Tayagungin, Esketemc, Mille Lacs Ojibwe, Wet’suwet’en, Laksilyu, Navajo Mistawasis Cree, Mohawk and Tyendinaga, as well as other nations, clans and territories.
Papers from "Dreaming of a New Reality," the Third International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, August 8-10, 2002, Minneapolis, Minnesota
David F. Piperato, principal, Palisades High School and Joseph J. Roy, principal, Springfield Township High School, Pennsylvania, USA, speak about how to develop a positive, collaborative school culture that supports the school’s educational goals, based on a commitment to establishing relationships among students and staff rooted in mutual caring and respect. The paper was presented at "Dreaming of a New Reality," the Third International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, August 8-10, 2002.
Article from "Dreaming of a New Reality" conference program book by Paul McCold, director of research, and Ted Wachtel, president, of the IIRP. The article reports on the results of a 3-year evaluation of the use of a restorative practices milieu in the Community Service Foundation schools in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Tim Newell, governor (retired) of Grendon Prison, U.K., explores the organizational paradigm of prison culture, to shed light on how the very different and potentially valuable restorative justice paradigm can be implemented in prisons. Newell oversaw the successful implementation of restorative justice practices in prisons, involving prisoners in taking personal responsibility for their offending and seeking to make reparation. The paper was presented at "Dreaming of a New Reality," the Third International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, August 8-10, 2002.
Elizabeth Quinnett, Program Manager, County of San Diego, California, USA Health and Human Services Agency, Children''s Services, talks about how the Family Unity Meeting process has been implemented in San Diego County, explains the process in detail and discusses the program''s success. The paper was presented at "Dreaming of a New Reality," the Third International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, August 8-10, 2002.
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