courts prisons Restorative Justice Victims

Randy Cohen’s Good Advice to Not Call the Police

Randy Cohen, The Ethicist, who writes an insightful and often humorous column for the New York Times Magazine, made a good case for using restorative justice recently.  He answered a question asked by a restaurant manager if he should call the police on a server who was caught stealing.  Mr. Cohen said no!  He pointed out the failings of our justice system in clear and undeniable terms.  The sever too had admitted guilt and offered…

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prisons

Bad Prison Policy Risks Community Safety in Hawai’i

The state of Hawai‘i’s current prison polices risk the safety of our community and waste scarce public resources.  The decision to close Kulani prison is a case in point. Hawai‘i’s Republican governor Linda Lingle and her prison administration are closing Kulani prison, which focuses on treatment and rehabilitation.  At the same time the administration gives $50 million a year to the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to imprison people thousands of miles…

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Inspiration prisons Restorative Justice

Staying the Course to Continue Providing Restorative Justice

“We simply have got to stay and keep helping the people touched by these programs,” says Barbara Tudor with passion and zeal.  When she says she is “staying” you know she means it.  She is a sturdy sixty-ish woman with curly blond short hair and clear blue eyes.  Most striking is her abundant energy, which could vie with the most active teenager. Tudor may also well be the longest working victim offender mediator in the…

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prisons Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice: an Inoculator to The Lucifer Effect

Professor Philip Zimbardo has written an indepth and important book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil.  It is based on his experience running the prison experiment in 1971 at Stanford University where randomly selected students were chosen to be prison guards and imprisoned people.  The study had to be abandoned in only a few days (and should have been earlier) because the guards became so cruel. Professor Zimbardo explains and provides lots…

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prisons Rehabilitation Restorative Justice

New Restorative Prison in Canberra, Australia

A new prison has been constructed in Canberra, Australia that is built upon the principals of restorative justice.  The Alexander Maconochie Centre is an attempt to truly rehabiliate incarcerated people. Radio Netherlands Worldwide has produced an insightful story about the new prison, which Austrailian corrections Minister John Hargreaves says was designed in a restorative manner because:  “We want people to realise that the facility is here to help them change their behaviour, to change their…

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