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Restorative justice for making plea bargians

Paul Tullis wrote a fascinating article for the New York Times Magazine about restorative justice and its use in the “plea agreement” (aka plea bargain) stage (prior to conviction and sentencing) of a murder case. Can Forgiveness Play a Role in the Criminal Justice System? describes a restorative process at the plea agreement stage in a Florida murder case where a 19 year old admittedly shot and killed his girlfriend. The NYTs article, and later…

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New York Times Article Shows Why Restorative Justice is Needed

The February 5, 2012 New York Times article by Kovaleski et al, For Killers’ Families, Struggles With Shame, Silence and Fear http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/us/killers-families-left-to-confront-fear-and-shame.html?ref=us shows why we need restorative justice. The article describes how family members are also harmed by their loved one’s criminal behavior. It shows the need for restorative interventions that can help many families deal with the harm they suffer. The article describes how lawyer Nader Hasen, whose cousin is the psychiatrist from Ft.…

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Restorative justice helps us face death

The draw for me to sit with people who face terrible loss, or who are facing their terrible behavior, is deep. Every time I do it I am inspired. It has touched me in extremely profound ways. Some people have commented on this work, e.g. http://www.oprah.com/own-confronting/Colleen-Meets-Her-Husbands-Killer, and asked me “How can you do it?” They have also said things like, “I couldn’t sleep at night if I had your job.” Far from being disturbing, I…

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Remembering Bob Shapel at a Walla Walla Prison Restorative Dialogue

In January 2011 I was asked to work with three people to facilitate a restorative dialogue (a.k.a. victim offender mediation) at Walla Walla prison in Washington State. The dialogue was filmed for Confronting on the Oprah Winfrey Network http://www.oprah.com/own-confronting/Colleen-Meets-Her-Husbands-Killer Colleen Shapel’s husband Bob, who was also her best friend for most of her life, was senselessly murdered in a February 2004 robbery. Melissa, Colleen’s oldest daughter, and William Schorr, a co-defendant who plead guilty to…

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Restorative Justice Can Increase Self-Compassion

Restorative justice helps us develop self-compassion. I know a lot about not being compassionate with myself. A couple months ago I wrote about how unforgiving I was toward myself for almost getting murdered by a stranger for The Forgiveness Project based in London. It’s always been pretty easy for me to be compassionate and forgiving of others, but when it comes to myself I tend to be unrelenting in intolerance for my failures, which intellectually…

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England’s Discussion on Forgiveness

Marina Cantacuzino founder of The Forgiveness Project has written an article in London’s The Times on-line newspaper October 12, 2009 about forgiveness and the case of an Irish activist who planted a bomb 25 years ago that killed five people and left others seriously injured.  The man served 14 years in prison (was sentenced to life), but released as part of the Good Friday Agreement also known as the Belfast Agreement, which was part of…

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Forgiveness is Power for Victims

Marina Cantacuzino a journalist and the founder of The Forgiveness Project in London writes for the Huffington Post about having compassion for those who commit even the most despicable crimes and the power it gives victims.  Marina has interviewed and written about dozens of people from all over the world who have been seriously hurt by crimes, those who committed the offenses, and how the power of forgiveness has helped people heal. She discusses the…

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