Travel clears the head, offering a new perspective on some of our troubled U.S. institutions. In this case a visit to New Zealand made me ponder our US criminal justice system, too often dominated by punitive retributive thinking. A tall Maori man, with a heavy build, stood in the criminals’ box in Blenheim, New Zealand, Read more
Lindsey Pointer from Colorado, USA, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study restorative reintegration and rituals of re-entry in New Zealand. “I am excited to expand my understanding of the impact of restorative practices through the opportunity to study in New Zealand, where these practices are well-established and integrated into the justice system,” she Read more
New Zealand minister of Justice, Judith Collins is hailing the success of restorative justice conferences as a way to bring down crime rates. She says it’s clear restorative justice conferences are a useful tool in keeping offenders from going on to commit other crimes. “It’s estimated from the 1569 meetings held in 2011 and 2012, Read more
Project Turnaround, the provider of restorative justice in South Canterbury, has been given the green light to continue for another two years. Timaru District Council’s community services group manager, Sharon Matson, said yesterday Project Turnaround had been advised verbally that it had secured the tender for providing the service over the next two years. “Until Read more
The traditional code of conflict solution known as the peace ceremony is PNG’s most equitable and timeless alternative justice system. In peace ceremonies, the aggrieved parties come together in a public gathering to a neutral location with money and goods like animals, food stuffs etc. The money and goods are exchanged between the aggrieved parties Read more
Detention could soon be a relic of the past, with schools increasingly dropping the punishment in favour of “restorative chats” and other rehabilitative measures. St Patrick’s College Silverstream is the latest Wellington high school to adopt the restorative justice principles, with a no-detention approach for even the worst troublemakers. The practice is becoming widespread in Read more