crime prevention Inspiration Public health Restorative Justice Solution-Focused Uncategorized

11th Annual Parole Completion Celebration

On the evening of October 9, 2019 we were privileged to provide the 11th annual celebration honoring people who were discharged from parole in Hawai‘i this year and those who helped them. The event was held in the magnificent Ali‘iolani Hale (Hawai‘i Supreme Court) in Honolulu. About 65 guests including those being discharged from parole, their loved ones, judges, lawyers including public defenders and a couple candidates for the 2020 election for prosecutor for the…

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NIJ Report: Prison Doesn’t Deter Crime Supports Restorative Processes

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has released findings of what deters criminal behavior. The NIJ offers five findings that it has learned from extensive research in criminal deterrence including the failure of prisons to deter crime. Prison the NIJ says instead can cause people to become more criminal. The findings support restorative responses to crime instead of punishment. The United States, excluding the federal government, spends $53 billion a year on prisons and in…

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Restorative practices are evidence-based

The idea of that certain behavioral practices are evidence-based began in the field of medicine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_practice). “Behavioral health practice (here abbreviated behavioral practice) is a multidisciplinary field that promotes optimal mental and physical health by maximizing biopsychosocial functioning. Evidence-based behavioral practice entails making decisions about how to promote healthful behaviors by integrating the best available evidence with practitioner expertise and other resources, and with the characteristics, state, needs, values and preferences of those who will…

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Restorative interventions needed for 97% cases where defendants plead guilt

Not Guilty: Are the Acquitted Innocent? is an excellent new book by Dan Givelber* Northeastern Law School professor, and Amy Farrell Northeastern Criminal Justice School professor. In this easy to read book, the authors provide valuable information and insights into how judges and juries behave, and how understanding acquittals better (acquittals occur once in every 100 cases) could improve our justice system. “The pervasive problem of crime fuels the belief that we do not prosecute…

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Communication Family Restorative Justice Solution-Focused

Restorative justice & stories for resilient families and happy individuals

> Bruce Feiler’s March 17, 2013 New York Times article about happy families and how they influence individual family member’s health and happiness, supports our restorative justice and solution focused work http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/the-family-stories-that-bind-us-this-life.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Feiler discusses how one night he pondered: “What is the secret sauce that holds a family together? What are the ingredients that make some families effective, resilient, happy?” and went on to learn what he could to answer these questions. His research led…

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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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Restorative Justice For Schools

Hawai’i’s daily newspaper The Star Advertiser published an oped I wrote on Sunday February 3, 2013, about the need for restorative justice in schools. The piece is reprinted below. Howard Zehr also wrote an interesting blog about “Restoration is a metaphor” recently https://emu.edu/now/restorative-justice/2013/01/31/restoration-is-a-metaphor/ and in it he announced a  webinar will air on February 27, 2013 “The Promise & Challenge of Restorative Justice Practices in Schools” on Feb. 27: https://www.emu.edu/cjp/restorative-justice/webinars/rj-in-schools/ The webnair technology that Howard…

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Public health Restorative Justice schools

Restorative Justice for Positive Behavior Support or PBIS

Thank you for expressing your opinion on this Mr. Bruno. Alternatively please consider that restorative justice and positive behavior support approaches for schools are consistent and that they compliment each other. Instead of framing this as: “’Restorative Justice’ Vs. PBIS,” I suggest: “Restorative Justice for Positive Behavior Support” and have just published an individual blog on it. Kris Miner also wrote a blog 2 years ago: “School-based Restorative Justice is PBIS (positive behavioral interventions and…

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Restorative Justice Victims

Bullied Bus Montior Deserves Restorative Justice

“Oh yes, I would like to talk to them!” says Karen Klein (fn.1) She is the 68-year-old school bus monitor from Rochester, New York who four middle school boys mercilessly ridiculed, swore at, and even poked, recently. Over 8 million people have viewed the You Tube(fn.2) of the incident tapped by a boy who said he wanted to send in to the Tosh.0 program (fn.3). A Canadian man saw the video and started an online…

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The War On Drugs Compared to a Public Health Approach

My experience in working in Hawai’i prisons since the late 1970s (before the “war on drugs” when we had less than 20 women imprisoned in our state compared with about 600 today), and visiting many prisons on all continents except Africa, is that most imprisoned people are poor people. The legal system favors people with money who can pay for good legal representation. Bryan Stevenson, who works with people serving life sentences and on death…

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