Restorative Practice Resources Tagged With: indigenous

'Restorative justice programs in Australia : a report to the Criminology Research Council - Heather Strang March 2001 Abstract This report provides an overview of restorative justice programs in Australia. While a wide range of programs may be broadly labeled 'restorative', the report mainly focuses on programs involving meetings of victims, offenders and communities to discuss and resolve an offence. On a state by state basis, programs are described in terms of their characteristics, implementation and administration, evaluation and relevant publications. While restorative justice programs are generally seen as being most suitable for juvenile offenders, the report also describes the use of conferencing programs for adult offenders in Queensland, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Other topics covered include the use of restorative programs in the school setting and in the care and protection setting; problems and some solutions in devising and implementing programs, including the question of restorative justice programs in Indigenous communities and ethnic communities; and the effective extension of restorative justice programs.'

This report provides an overview of restorative justice programs in Australia. While a wide range of programs may be broadly labeled 'restorative', the report mainly focuses on programs involving meetings of victims, offenders and communities to discuss and resolve an offence. On a state by state ba...

'The foundational principles of the transformative justice model “come from indigenous teachings,” which say that “we are interconnected, that everyone has a space and that when harm happens it’s because there is something that needs to be repaired as opposed to something that needs to be extracted from the community,”'

The University hired Dara Kwayera Imani Bayer ’08 this summer to serve as its inaugural Transformative Justice Program Coordinator, where she will oversee projects that aim to address violence and instances of harm through accountability and healing rather than punitive or legal measures.

'Whereas communities, activists, scholars, and scientists have primarily focused most of their energies into developing laws and making policies that identify, recognize, regulate, condemn or punish actors of ecocide, corporations or other authors that perpetuate environmental crime and harms, many have started recognizing the value and potential of restorative responses to these problems, especially the alignment of a restorative philosophy that is embedded in indigenous justice and environmental justice. In whatever version it comes, the restorative justice perspective is driven essentially by the principles of participation, harm reparation and healing, principles that must be central in conceiving environmental justice.'

-

'The key insight for me from Afghanistan is the way in which the language of restorative justice is being used to advance debates about the relationship between traditional and Islamic justice traditions and the state justice system. Discussions about how to connect the modern state institutions of justice, being rapidly built since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, with indigenous institutions such as jirgas, shuras, and other councils of elders where predominantly respected men sit in a circle to resolve disputes, have gained momentum in the past decade. '

New state laws protecting women have failed to have any widespread material change on the treatment of women by society or state in Afghanistan. Miranda Forsyth examines how legal pluralism can work to support improved gender outcomes.

'Her passion for restorative justice bolstered, Hulbert went on to earn an honours Bachelor degree in Criminology from SFU where she focused on both restorative and Indigenous justice. She conducted research in health, wellness, and justice in Indigenous communities while also volunteering her time to work with Indigenous youth and through Corrections Service Canada. She also received training in facilitating many different models of restorative processes.'

Answer to a personal crisis leads to lifetime passion

'Yet, in 2014, it was through a small group of our peoples, including Elders, that we began to repair this trauma of non-being by declaring love. We thanked the Government for their discrimination, their exile and their dispossession, and we love-bombed the Tasmanian Government. We did this while recognising that our governance relationship is a violent one, but we saw a future of healthy families, functional communities and deep, respectful relations between all Tasmanians. Through love we desired to reset the relationship and create a vibrant and vital Aboriginal Tasmanian identity that is welcoming of new governance relationships. We understood that Indigenous leadership was necessary for our genuine inclusion, where Aboriginal Tasmanian gains did not come at the expense of any other person or group.'

I am Aboriginal Tasmanian and before our constitution was amended I did not exist. But in 2014, a small group of our people came up with a radical new approach.