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“Shut up or I’ll kill you!” shouted the man as he shoved the hard barrel of a 9 mm handgun into the young woman’s stomach. She was a store clerk. The robber wanted her to open the store safe. “I don’t have the whole combination,” she sobbed. “Where’s your purse?” he demanded. He took the $32 out of her wallet along with her car keys. Then he wrapped duct tape around her mouth, hands and feet. He left her face down on the ground and ran from the store. Until she was rescued and untied by a co-worker about an hour later, she imagined him returning and shooting her. She kept thinking about her two young children, whose father was already gone, and what they would do without their mother.
This document (PDF), issued by the Department of Justice Canada, suggests best practices in restorative justice, including program development, facilitation and operation, "to be applied in a way appropriate to the context of each community."
This document (PDF), issued by the Department of Justice Canada, explains the philosophy of restorative justice, defines the restorative justice process and spells out basic principles and procedural safeguards relating to the use of restorative justice.
The concept of creative restitution was developed by psychologist Dr. Albert Eglash in the 1950s. While working with adults and youths who were involved in the criminal justice system, Eglash found that the system lacked both humanity and effectiveness. As a proposed alternative to that system, he developed and promoted the concept of creative restitution. In creative restitution, “an offender, under appropriate supervision, is helped to find some way to make amends to those he has hurt by his offense, and to ‘walk a second mile’ by helping other offenders.”[1]
Hampshire County, England, has been an important location for the development and use of family group conferencing (FGC), also known as family group decision making (FGDM). One of the largest nonmetropolitan counties in England, Hampshire has a population of 1.5 million and encompasses both urban and rural areas, with communities ranging from prosperous to economically depressed. There has been a wide variety of FGC activity in the county. Starting with child welfare, FGC has moved into youth justice, education and domestic violence applications, among others. This article explores a variety of FGC programs in Hampshire.
The Wet'suwet'en Unlocking Aboriginal Justice Program (WUAJ) is a community-driven restorative justice project initiated and operated by members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, in northwest British Columbia, Canada. The WUAJ was first developed in 1992, in response to the Wet’suwet’en people’s dissatisfaction with the Canadian judicial system and the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people involved in the federal and provincial court systems. The population of the Wet’suwet’en Nation is approximately 5,000. A matrilineal descent group, the Wet’suwet’en is made up of five clans: Laksilyu—Small Frog, Gilseyhu—Frog, Tsayu—Beaver, Gitdumden—Bear and Laksamishu—Fireweed, which are subdivided into 13 houses.
Plenary session papers from "Building a Global Alliance for Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment," the Fourth International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, August 28-30, 2003, Veldhoven, Netherlands.
John Blad, of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, chief editor of the Dutch Journal for Restorative Justice, discusses the Dutch government's shift from having one of the most lenient penal climates in the world to one that is much more punitive. He attributes the rise in his country's incarceration and violent crime rates to the new policies and argues for implementation of restorative justice instead. The paper was presented at the first in a series of three IIRP conferences with the theme, "Building a Global Alliance for Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment," in Veldhoven, Netherlands, August 28-30, 2003.
Helen Bowen and Jim Boyack, trustees of the Restorative Justice Trust of Auckland, New Zealand, discuss developments in adult restorative justice initiatives in their country, where youth offender family group conferences (FGCs) have been legally mandated since 1989. The 2002 Sentencing, Parole, and Victims' Rights acts have made New Zealand the world's first country to provide for restorative justice practices and principles at all stages of the criminal justice process. The paper was presented at the first in a series of three IIRP conferences with the theme, "Building a Global Alliance for Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment," in Veldhoven, Netherlands, August 28-30, 2003.
Graham Waite, superintendent, Northern Territory Police, Australia, discusses the Territory's pre-court juvenile diversion scheme, which provides alternatives, such as Real Justice conferencing, to prosecution and sentencing of young offenders (including Aboriginal youth), in the formal justice system. The scheme produced significant decreases in reoffending and high satisfaction levels. The paper was presented at the first in a series of three IIRP conferences with the theme, "Building a Global Alliance for Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment," in Veldhoven, Netherlands, August 28-30, 2003.
Restorative Works Year in Review 2025 (PDF)
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