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Two years ago, Independent Academic Research Studies, a UK based international network, started a research and implementation project to explore the potential of restorative justice to help resolve sexual offending cases involving children and young people. One aspect of this project is the use of restorative justice with sexual offending cases that occurred within the Catholic Church. The purpose of this article is to report on the main findings of the first stage of the project, based on desk research into existing or past international projects dealing with the matter. The aim, however, is not to provide a literature review of the main arguments surrounding the topic, but rather a critical overview of the restorative programs and research projects that have been implemented to test the notion’s application in sexual offending cases. The results of these programs will be contrasted with notorious cases that have been processed through the traditional criminal justice system. Therefore, this article is the first in a series on how restorative justice could be applied to help resolve the sexual scandals in the Catholic Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument presented in this paper is that the failure of the United States federal government to enact adequate gun control laws that would help prevent school shootings is a state crime by omission. Drawing on international law, as critical criminologists have recommended since the 1970s, the paper shows that the federal government is failing to act when it has a duty to protect schoolchildren. The paper concludes with recommendations for federal gun control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the concept of the 'spaces' into which restorative services develop. We conceptualise such 'spaces' as: social, the people and communities; as political, the will for developments; as physical, the geography and facilities; and as economic, dependent on the resources available. The first case study examines the hub-and-spoke model from Gloucestershire, England, where a top-down approach with buy-in at the statutory level provides 'space' for institutional engagement and integration of restorative practice. The second examines community-led restorative services in Belfast, Northern Ireland, originally tackling paramilitary violence they now fill a 'space' in local communities caused by a distrust of the state. The final case study is from Kenema City, Sierra Leone, where a post-conflict and post-Ebola 'space' is filled by an urban agriculture scheme aiming to divert young people from harmful activity and to reintegrate into society. Across the three cases in this paper, we hope to show that the types of 'space' we identify can be an important conceptual tool in helping to understand how and why restorative services develop, the provision they offer, and the capacities they haves to expand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how different types of reform can be used to progress short-, medium-, and long-term abolitionist goals. I begin by examining liberal reform – or reformist reforms – and how they often end up reifying imprisonment. I juxtapose liberal reform to the proposed abolitionist reform typology, consisting of imaginable, semi-imaginable, and unimaginable reforms. Drawing on the community organizing of the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP) – a volunteer-based activist group working in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – I demonstrate how different types of reforms can be pursued by abolitionists simultaneously: imaginable reforms that reduce the harms and use of carceral spaces and practices; semi-imaginable reforms that work to divert and decarcerate people from custody; and unimaginable reforms that replace oppressive structures with caring and compassionate ones. I also explore the pitfalls, possibilities, and tensions within each approach to reform within revolutionary struggles. This paper seeks to cover the possibilities and pitfalls of different types of reform and envision how they can be used in concert to progress prison abolition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a reflective essay on pedagogy for prison abolitionists that are working with students who are pursuing careers in the punishment industry, especially law enforcement. The goal of this paper is to create space for abolitionists and social justice educators that support students that are pursuing a career in the criminal legal system. The goals of this paper are to highlight the tensions between our responsibilities to students as educators and our responsibilities to abolition movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study considers how engaging university students in developing restorative alternatives to traditional retributive student conduct processes impact their attitudes toward restorative justice both on campus and beyond. As opposed to punitive approaches, Restorative Justice (RJ) attempts to achieve justice by addressing the harm caused by conduct violations through reconcillation between the stakeholders. While some universities have advanced RJ alternatives to address on-campus wrongdoing, little research exists on the impact of including university students in developing such models. As an alternative to a top-down administration-center approach, this case study utilized just community and justice-learning frameworks to develop a short course that engaged university students in developing on-campus RJ alternatives and measure the impact of the course on the students’ attitudes related to RJ through a pre-and post-course assessment based on the Taylor & Bailey’s Restorative Justice Attitudes Scale as well as student comments. This paper outlines the insights gained from the students’ post-course reflections on restorative practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although restorative conflict resolution is gaining a steady foothold in many contexts, the context of domestic violence is strongly debated. The debate has been continuing and it still does. The argument in this paper sustains that the debate represents a typical conflict. When appreciating one, it is important to discern the core of it. The paper goes then on to arguing that the debate represents a typical moral conflict, rather than a judicial or a political one. The paper aims at establishing a framework for solving of moral conflicts, in the light of the debate between the advocates and the critics of restorative justice in domestic violence cases. As such the paper seeks to make a contribution to not only the debate relating to restorative justice in domestic violence cases but to restorative conflict resolution in general and to conflicts typical in societies today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, developed by participants in an Economics of Crime course at Northeastern University in conjunction with their professor, highlights student perspectives of the relationship between the economic system, its operations and institutions, and the marginalization and victimization of Black people. The paper addresses specific attributes of the course curriculum that facilitated student understanding of these topics, and in doing so suggests an alternative pedagogy for discussing crime from an economics disciplinary perspective. The inclusion of historical context in the criminalization of race and poverty aligns to bell hooks' Teaching to Transgress, as course engagement centers on social context and responsibility while also critically assessing economic models of crime that have arguably obscured the relationship between racial discrimination, economic opportunity, legitimized slavery, and monetization of human life, and instead have provided credibility to economic incentives for crime by assuming rational behavior and free will. Additionally, inclusion of the causes and criminalization of groups and resulting student outcomes from the course provide an example of bell hooks' learning community and reflects the engagement between students and their professor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug overdoses are the number one preventable death in the United States. In 2022, over 109,000 people died as a result of a drug overdose. The rise in drug overdose deaths has corresponded with the US government's neoliberal turn, which refuses to intervene in markets, expands the security state, and individualizes social issues. In this paper, we argue that this crisis is the result of state violence. More specifically, the state set the framework for responding to the crisis with the War on Drugs that began in the 1980s. The opioid crisis emerged due to the state deregulating the pharmaceutical industry, leading to the distribution of opioids across the country, but that were disproportionately distributed to the Appalachian region. When the state finally did respond, its response further entrenched criminalization as the state's approach left a vacuum of people addicted to opioids forced to turn to the illegal heroin and fentanyl drug markets that exacerbated death rates further. Finally, the state continues to largely ignore and demonize harm reduction alternatives in lieu of expanding the prison industrial complex further. This, we argue, is state violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, scholars in the conflict resolution field have begun to appreciate religion's role in promoting the values, beliefs and practices of peace and nonviolence. Though scholars have identified myriad Islamic sources of conflict resolution, few have engaged with the restorative justice tradition directly. In the following paper, I identify the Islamic foundations of restorative justice through an examination of the restorative themes in the Qur'an and an analysis of Islamic crime and punishment. Any discrepancies between the restorative framework and the Islamic framework are discussed. I then identify and illustrate Islamic restorative practice in the Palestinian indigenous tradition of sulha. This paper demonstrates that in both theory and practice, what is understood as Islamic justice can also be conceptualised as an interpersonal, restorative justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass atrocity crimes constitute a grave affront to international peace and security as well as to human rights. Due to their deep reach in society, they also constitute a very major social predicament. It is undignifying to allow perpetrators of these crimes to be left un-investigated or unpunished. This paper considers how behind the scenes high-ranking military and political indirect perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes should be adjudged guilty of collective criminal responsibility. One mode of collective criminal responsibility – Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE) – is hereby analysed. Considering the International Criminal Court’s praxis in rejecting certain approaches to JCE, we propose two amendments to the ICC’s Rome Statute, namely: incorporating JCE into Article 25(3)(a) to include acts through another person via JCE, and adding provisions to define elements of Article 25A to guide the Court’s interpretation. This will enable the ICC to apply JCE like the international ad hoc tribunals have done in the past, in the process enhancing the capacity to hold masterminds accountable and buttressing the causes of restorative and social justice in societies grappling with the effects of mass atrocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restorative justice seeks to address harms arising from criminal conduct, with a focus that extends beyond punishment. While Australia has embraced restorative justice practices for young and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders, programs for adult offenders have been comparatively slow to progress. Despite the reliance on judicial officers as the primary referral mechanism, there is limited research examining their views of restorative justice, particularly in the context of adult offenders. This paper presents the findings from a survey and interviews with judicial officers in one Australian jurisdiction: South Australia. There was clear support for restorative justice measures for adult offenders for a broad range of offences. Some concerns were raised with respect to victims’ safety, and the additional time and resources that restorative justice expends. Overall, the study found that the judicial officers who participated would welcome the introduction of a restorative justice program for adult offenders. With this support, and the potential benefits of restorative justice for victims, offenders, and the community, South Australia should consider extending its restorative justice offerings to adult offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alberta is located in Western Canada, and is bordered by British Columbia to the west, and Saskatchewan to the east. The province has a history of employing restorative justice practices that date back many years. Today, Alberta has many restorative justice platforms operating across the province. The present study sought to uncover the genesis of restorative justice in Alberta, and specifically, what has contributed to the growth of restorative justice in this province. To do this, we conducted a qualitative study, in which we interviewed 13 Key Informants from across Alberta. Responses to the question of what contributed to the growth of restorative justice in Alberta were coded and analyzed. The findings of this study are categorized into three major themes: Community, Justice System, and Government. Each of these themes explores several topics, such as community engagement and the push from grassroots organizations, the role of courts, RCMP, judges, and other leaders in the justice system, as well as government funding and programming. This presentation also explores the ‘restorativeness’ of specialized courts such as the Calgary Indigenous Court; a topic that is becoming especially important in recent years. This paper ends with limitations and areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a new type of interpersonal crime has emerged where victimization happens through the use of technology and/or cyber space. The legal, law enforcement, as well as social scientific research fields have yet to fully grasp the scope of this modern crime type. In this paper, we review what is currently known on the issue with 5 Ws and 1 H approach, in terms of their current understanding, prevalence, victimization patterns, motivations, and relationship between violence in the cyberspace and offline. We end with a proposal for future directions and argue that a useful framework for researching this type of crime may be the interpersonal model first developed within the investigative psychology field for the classification and profiling of sexually violent offenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being one of the most prevalent manifestations of trafficking in human beings, labour exploitation still results in few convictions. Based on 33 interviews with 28 professionals from the criminal justice system and 5 from the field of labour, this paper analyses the obstacles these professionals face when approaching this crime in Spain as a case study of what may not be working in other Western European countries. The research results point to three types of barriers encountered when dealing with these cases: regulatory; institutional (both pretrial and extra-procedural and during the criminal proceedings themselves); and those related to professionals' attitudes towards these cases. The difficulties that can be included in each of these areas are identified, and solutions are proposed to overcome them to make the criminal justice system's response to this crime more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been ebbs and flows, since 1982, with the growth of Restorative Justice (RJ) practices in British Columbia (BC), Canada. To date there are more than seventy plus organizations that offers RJ practices in BC. Using in-depth key informant interviews, along with surveys, this research seeks to understand the genesis and praxis of RJ in BC. This study finds that the local community's involvement was of paramount importance to the growth of restorative justice. Key findings include the contribution of Community Justice Initiative Langley, Community Accountability Programs and SFU's Centre for Restorative Justice. A number of emergent themes are discussed in the paper that include the role of the written RJ script, and standardization. The findings are significant for a number of reasons, first of all, it reveals the role of community, government and university collaboration. Secondly, emergent themes discussed in this paper illustrate the tensions within RJ praxis in BC where learning and growth are creating new understanding and insight. A detailed analysis on standardization debate and scripted vs non-scripted model of RJ are also discussed. This paper concludes that future research needs to focus on the relationship between restorative justice and Indigenous justice in BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pre-colonial African communities were ethnically and culturally diverse with no single dominant ethnic and religious group. Unwritten customary law and procedures were the means by which local communities resolved disputes in the absence of state authority. The laws were based on a common cultural belief and ethical codes that generate a binding regulation on members. Communities adopted this model to impose sanctions against violators and resolve disputes arising among members through various mechanisms. However, the introduction of a new justice system by the colonialists completely interrupted the indigenous system. Today, the indigenous justice system in many African countries is restricted to handling only civil matters through the application of ADR to address some of the challenges facing the contemporary justice system. This paper argues that the customary justice procedure can be adopted in criminal matters as a model that seeks to understand and address the realities of the social causes of crime. The paper concludes that the two systems of justice can complement each other to restore public confidence in the system by catering for the loss suffered by victims rather than focusing on the offenders and offence, bringing justice closer to people without any stress, reintegrating offenders back into the society and ensuring social harmony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2002 the Rwandan government asked thousands of untrained civilians to organize, staff, and operate the largest judicial experiment in human history: the gacaca courts. For nearly a decade, community residents met weekly to judge the fates of accused genocidaires. Critical to this process were survivors who acted as judges, provided testimony, and bore witness to the Rwandan government's response to genocide. This paper documents the findings from qualitative fieldwork in Rwanda exploring survivor perceptions of the gacaca process and outcomes. In total, 57 stakeholders were interviewed and asked about their perspectives on the court's procedures, limitations, accomplishments, and legacy. Results from this study indicate that although survivors desired and expected a variety of justice-related outcomes from the courts, including punishment for those responsible, material and symbolic reparations, peace and security, in the end, many were disappointed. Nevertheless, as the process wore on, many survivors continued to support gacaca's operation because they believed it was the only way they could shape post-genocide narratives about Rwanda's past, present and future. Ultimately this paper presents a more complex picture of how those on the ground understood the gacaca process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child Panels (CPs) are quasi-judicial bodies charged with administering alternative measures in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act and the Children's Act in Ghana. This study set out to examine the functioning, relevance, efficiency, and sustainability of CPs. Drawing on qualitative research methods of observation, semi-structured interviews, and a case study, the major findings of this study include a lack of awareness of the concept and existence of CPs with only one functioning CP in 12 districts in the study area that were supposed to have them, and a general lack of training for members of the panel. Notwithstanding these findings, when researchers prodded, interviewees' responses pointed to tremendous support for the concept of CPs. The paper argues that implemented well, CPs have the potential to enhance access to justice for all children in the country considering their composition and requirement that they be formed by every municipal and district assembly in the country, which makes them more accessible to parents and their children everywhere in the country than other state agencies within the juvenile justice system. Hence, the paper recommends that CPs should be equipped to function efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restorative justice (RJ) conferences may be used as an alternative to or in conjunction with conventional criminal justice system responses. They may yield benefits for victims, offenders, and effected communities. RJ conferences also have the potential to be counterproductive if facilitators are not properly trained or if they fail to properly implement models of practice. This paper reports on the results of a multiple-case study of RJ practitioner trainings and advances recommendations for training partner selection and quality assurance processes in the criminal justice context. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dutch national police recently became the world's first force to train eagles to combat the growing rise of drones within the Netherlands. Partnering with an eagle-training security firm, Guard From Above, both organizations believe using eagles to intercept and retrieve drones is the most effective countermeasure to handle rogue drones in the skies. This paper questions whether such a police operation to increase air security respects the rights of the eagles and ensures the animals' protection from unreasonable injury, harm and suffering. Such an examination lies at the intersection of green criminological perspectives and critical security studies' scholarship, an intersection of which I consider more thoroughly. By implementing a qualitative media analysis, this paper examines twenty media reports detailing the facts of the Dutch 'Flying Squad.' I contend that police agencies in the West must seriously consider such eagle initiatives as intrusive, harmful practices. The findings suggest that conceptualizing the eagles as exceptional 'biotechnological' state agents may increase sky security in Western countries, but such anthropocentric logics of security minimize the concerns for 'species justice' and the safeguards for eagles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores punishment philosophy and practices in the United States from a critical criminological perspective, utilizing a racial capitalism framework to illustrate forces that impede prison abolition. The paper examines historic and contemporary punishments implemented against ‘others’ to show how such practices help to sustain white capital accumulation and white privilege. The paper also discusses a number of the individual social-psychological theories that assist in the maintenance of that system. Finally, the paper calls for the eradication of racial capitalism through a stronger revolutionary consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes an example of collaborative teaching between a university professor and a community advocate with lived experience with the criminal justice system. Inspired by bell hooks' concept of boundary crossing, we describe the course logistics and the possibilities that collaborative teaching holds to challenge traditional notions of justice and power in the university classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As both first-generation, working-class Canadians from Italian immigrant families we were very much outsiders to the academy when we began our respective university studies in the late 1980s. Today, as third-generation critical criminologists, we strive to bring an intersectional perspective to the classroom and to likewise enable marginalized students to find their voice and position themselves as active subjects, not objects of others' inquiry. From sharing the insights offered by Left Realism and Zemiology the authors offer an autoethnographic account of teaching crime and justice. In keeping with hooks' observation that the reality of class differences is starkly revealed in educational settings, this paper seeks to explore the intersections between teaching and learning as a process that involves existential self-reflection towards a critical pedagogy aimed at creating an inclusive teaching and learning space that challenges myths, demythologize power relations, and promotes social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

bell hooks states that the necessary conditions for learning to begin – deep and intimate learning – requires respect and care for our students. However, educators have been told they need to enculturate into the higher education social hierarchy for generations – to be the 'sage on the stage' rather than creating course and classroom environments that support engaged learning. Our students are intimidated by, and sometimes even, afraid of us from day one as they read our jargon-heavy, punishment-laden, bold-faced, underlined, and all-caps syllabi. We can take steps towards decolonizing our courses, by building equity-driven syllabi that enable students to succeed from day one. This paper provides reflection and practical ideas (that you can use) to create an equity-driven syllabus, demonstrative of your love for teaching and respect and care for your student's souls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restorative justice seeks to repair the harm caused by crime by bringing together victims, offenders, and affected parties in a facilitated dialogue. Restorative justice is often viewed negatively in relation to cases of sexual violence, due to fears of revictimization, retraumatization, and power imbalances. This paper provides a critical analysis of current literature on restorative justice as a response to sexual violence. It presents findings from a small study (n = 25) held after a one-day conference on sexual violence and restorative justice. Findings include support for restorative justice in cases of sexual offending being contingent on the process being victim/survivor-led and specialist training being provided for restorative practitioners who deal with such cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years of rising incarceration and mass punishment have solidified the carceral state as central to US governance and culture, and entrenched the perception of punishment as the most effective and moral response to interpersonal violence. Today, within a growing discourse challenging punishment as the primary response to interpersonal violence, restorative justice (RJ) is the most commonly promoted alternative. Yet in the context of the criminal legal system and in the broader RJ ecosystem, RJ responses to violence are limited, receiving minimal public and academic attention. This paper traces the developments of mass punishment and RJ over the last 50 years, analyzing their contrasting political and social evolutions. This analysis illustrates how punishment has captured the political, legal and social possibilities as it relates to violence, and how and why the field of RJ has been limited in its ability to advance non-punitive accountability-based approaches to violence. In addition, lessons are drawn from these instructive histories for the growing RJ efforts to address violence, to consider and challenge the varying forces that have made growing these responses difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While restorative justice enjoys increasing popularity in a variety of national contexts, it is not yet a structural part of police work. Implementation is often piecemeal, with only a small minority of cases deemed suitable for a restorative approach. This paper draws on literature on the moral dimensions of street-level bureaucrats' everyday work to analyse how police officers in the Netherlands decide to (not) refer victims and offenders to restorative interventions. In-depth interviews with police officers who are involved in these interventions show that what they present as pragmatic considerations also involve judgments of the deservingness of victims and offenders. Contrary to the literature on 'ideal' victims and offenders of restorative justice, police officers in this study are more likely to offer restorative interventions to 'messy' victims – who are seen as partly responsible for the crime due to their behaviour and/or relationship to the offender – and to offenders who are considered pitiable or sympathetic. These judgments partly map unto existing cultural norms and biases, and the resulting selective deployment of restorative interventions may therefore conserve and reproduce inequities in the criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has witnessed an increase in human trafficking cases in recent years, most of which have involved women trafficked for sexual exploitation. In response, and within the framework of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent and Suppress Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, Australia has introduced legislation to combat human trafficking and punish traffickers. However, the number of prosecutions of human trafficking offences in Australia has, to date, been low. Drawing on the available literature, this article sets out to explore the reasons for this, which the paper argues have largely centered on Australia’s previously restrictive visa framework for trafficking victims. The paper also explores other obstacles and barriers to successful prosecutions, such as issues associated with discrediting and attacking vulnerable witnesses, and lengthy and complex trials. The paper argues that Australia needs to increase its efforts to meet the obligations set out by the United Nations Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, and to balance its priorities regarding prosecution and victim protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a case study of the struggle over the cultural meanings of charity and imprisonment related to United Way's 2019 Rockin' The Big House fundraising concert in partnership with Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the City of Kingston at Kingston Penitentiary. Contributing to literature at the intersection of penality, prison tourism, and the charitable sector, we examine how staging authenticity and fostering penal spectatorship were central to driving ticket sales for and encouraging enjoyment at the concert held on the grounds of Canada's first penitentiary. Based on an analysis of internal government records and CSC communications with United Way, we demonstrate how event planning and advertising relied on denigrating stereotypes regarding criminalized persons. Highlighting the value of collective organizing, action research, and newsmaking interventions aimed at opposing carceral enjoyments, we illustrate how cultural meanings of penality can be confronted as a means to advance abolitionist politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse completed its final report in December 2017 after five years of hearings. The Royal Commission was the culmination of pressure from a series of public inquiries about institutional sexual abuse and sustained advocacy from victims and survivor support groups. The Commission made recommendations designed to change institutional leadership, governance and culture. The challenge is to have that change embedded in institutional culture. This paper considers how this might be done in a specific institution, the Catholic Church given that more than two-thirds of reported abuse in faith-based institutions occurred within its ranks. Regulatory theory suggests effective regulation must be responsive to past institutional behaviour. In the case of the Church, the task is profound given its strong self-protective culture which has long shielded abusers. The form of regulation must provide a balance where criminal sanctions loom large in the background while redress processes proceed in the foreground to repair both the harm suffered by survivors and renew Church culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper problematizes the fear-based marketing of guns and tasers to both men and women as a function of neoliberalism's emphasis on consumption as the solution to social problems. Men are marketed dangerous weapons as a way to display their masculinity, while women are told that purchasing guns or tasers is one of the best ways to protect themselves from domestic violence and sexual assault. As the paper shows, that claim is in stark contrast to data about these phenomena, and yet such marketing is often taken as a common sense solution. In addition to detailing why such marketing of weapons is problematic, we offer several recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the process of decolonization started after the conclusion of the Second World War, a major victim of this process was indigenous cultures and social structures in most of the former colonies. This paper draws its analysis from postcolonial theory by considering the detrimental effects that colonialism has left on the culture and governance in tribal societies. The paper attempts to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on indigenous/traditional conflict transformation and peace strategies by studying the role of indigenous strategies in resolving conflicts in Pakistan and Tanzania. In Pakistan, the Pashtun Jirga is a council of elders that plays a significant role in mediating and resolving conflicts among Pashtuns, especially tribal Pashtuns. In Tanzania, two cases of extractive resource conflicts in North Mara and Mtwara show how these conflicts have been resolved and what role indigenous strategies played or could have played if they were to be effectively used. In both Pakistan and Tanzania cases, we find that indigenous strategies of peace and conflict transformation are an important and necessary ingredient to conflict resolution. However, despite their significance, indigenous strategies are hardly a priority for respective post-colonial governments and the international community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rarely does the death of animals cause conflict between governments. However, the killing of some animals, such as seals, wolves, and other exotic wildlife, can cause heated conflict over whether the act of killing is itself justifiable. This paper provides an overview of a recent disagreement along these lines: between the EU and Sweden over the management of wolves. It juxtaposes the recent politicalization of the wolf hunt with an overview of two very different moral frameworks that humans use to conceive of the value of animals. This paper argues that these two moral frameworks share in employing a human-centrism which consequently restricts how the issue of justice can be introduced into policy discussions regarding the treatment of animals. However, the primary assertion made here is that while these two frameworks are constituted by speciesism, they represent two different positions which as is illustrated by the debate surrounding the justifiability of the wolf hunt, provide very different points to which questions of justice are truncated or introduced. Therefore, the assertion made in this paper is that the conflict between the EU and Sweden, over the justifiability of the wolf hunt stems from competing speciesist positions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In a world continually (re)structured through neoliberal organization, processes of food production and consumption are increasingly market-oriented within an agribusiness-structured system. This paper provides an exploratory analysis of the role of the Canadian dairy cow as both a producer and a consumer through questioning how the production–consumption roles are structured within federal legal regulations governing the dairy cow’s life on a modern farm. Particularly, this paper explores whether there is a difference between how the dairy cow is defined and treated through regulations governing consumption, such as feed and care, versus production laws, including impregnation and milking processes. This inquiry will be answered by examining literature and data describing Canadian dairy farms, combined with a discourse analysis of federal regulations governing the consumption and production activities of dairy cattle. The results will be presented from the perspective of the Canadian dairy cow, followed by a discussion of how regulations may best represent the just treatment of the dairy cow within both roles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The investigation of complaints against the police is important to law, order and justice. The public expects high ethical standards from its police service and when breaches occur, complaints often follow. How the police respond to complaints can influence the trust and confidence that underpins the civilian-police relationship. This paper examines some of the key issues faced by police services in the management of complaints and reviews the effectiveness of mediation as a measure to rebuild relations. The Los Angeles and New York City Police Departments were selected for the study because there are very few civilian-police complaints mediation programs in operation and these sites had reports on the public record that indicated some success. A qualitative case study approach was used, incorporating public source material and interviews with key informants. The findings show that the inclusion of external mediation in police complaints systems offers complainants a transparent, impartial and often restorative mechanism to resolve complaints. However, any perceived conflict surrounding the independence and equity of the mediation vendor can engender police and complainant mistrust in the process. As such, ongoing public and police education on the aims, process and benefits of mediation is required to sustain its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restorative justice is coming out of the shadows and in Europe this interest grows alongside a stronger victims' movement with a domino effect on EU member states' laws. In the UK, legislation now allows restorative justice at all stages of the criminal justice system, and as part of these developments, new restorative justice services that will be 'victim-led' are being funded. This paper questions this 'kind' of restorative justice, using unpublished findings from a research project that was conducted in 2017 in London. The project involved a survey with 66 victims and 44 offenders, followed by 11 in-depth victim interviews and a focus groups with 7 victims and practitioners. The data point out a number of assumptions and caveats, which must be addressed in order to ensure that further investment in restorative justice will yield benefits to all those whose lives are blighted by crime. The conclusions are relevant to anyone practising restorative justice internationally including policy makers and funders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconstructs and discusses how the 'offender' is represented within policy documents, legal statutes and scholarly literature on restorative justice, published and circulated in England and Wales over the last thirty years. The research first outlines the most wide-ranging and recurrent images and implicit assumptions of the offender in restorative justice. A set of specific offender's features will be singled out, and the 'ideal offender' of restorative justice will be profiled. The final step of this work consists of mapping out the cultural context within which this ideal has emerged, in a historical perspective. The overall goal is to shed light on some taken-for-granted images surrounding the offender in restorative justice, and on the cultural context within which they have developed. In this way, it is possible to contribute toward the critical re-assessment of restorative justice whilst considering implications beyond the British context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authoritarian school safety measures have become commonplace in efforts to promote safety in today's schools. This paper attempts to examine the effects of student engagement with authoritarianism in schools using self-report survey data from students (N= 359) across eight high schools in one large, urban school district in the greater New York City area. With consideration of various frameworks for conceptualizing authority in schools, authoritarianism in schools is operationalized by student self-report of engagement between two time points in (1) random sweeps for contraband; (2) surveillance cameras; (3) metal detector searches; and (4) interaction with authority (i.e., school police). Findings suggest those who have increased engagement with authoritarianism in schools throughout the year report increased occurrence of engagement in maladaptive behavior. Concurrently, exposure to authoritarianism over the course of one school year is associated with student behavior, academic performance, and attendance in ways that vary for different racial and ethnic groups. Findings call for educators and administrators to consider and continually assess the effects of authoritarian practices on student performance when developing and implementing safety protocol in their schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines staff and student perspectives of the use of restorative justice approaches to respond to student-on-student hate crime, hate incidents, and hate speech on university campuses. It draws on qualitative data collated over a one-year period, during the design and establishment of a restorative programme entitled 'Restore Respect' at two UK universities. Highlighting examples of students' experiences of prejudice and hate across the two universities, we outline some of the key barriers to reporting associated with conventional university responses, as well as staff and student views of establishing a new restorative approach to addressing incidents. While early-stage evaluation revealed certain cultural and institutional barriers and limitations to the establishment and operation of a restorative programme, the majority of staff and students viewed it as an effective way of addressing hate-based conduct that would provide greater opportunity for more positive interventions and outcomes. The paper concludes by arguing for a renewed effort to move beyond standard institutional responses to student experiences of hate and prejudice at university through the adoption of restorative, needs-centred approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of an empirical research project, exploring ongoing attempts to mainstream restorative justice within two English police forces and examining how the police understood and used restorative justice in practice. The findings suggest that two institutional priorities – to satisfy victims and manage the demand on the police's time – strongly influenced the interpretation and practice of restorative justice. This created tensions as police officers who facilitated restorative justice processes used their discretion to determine, on a case-by-case basis, how best to balance these institutional goals with the restorative goal of stakeholder empowerment. These findings illustrate how the police can implement abstract concepts in a selective, discretionary manner, and enhances the limited empirical literature that explains how existing priorities and embedded ways of working within criminal justice agencies, shape their understanding and use of restorative justice in practice. Such knowledge is crucial, if we are to help maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of restorative justice and restorative policing. The article also introduces the concept of 'managed empowerment' to help explain how the tensions between restorative and institutional goals manifested themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Justice is perceived divergently by the stakeholders of revitalization projects for the community experiencing environmental injustice. Weaving different conceptions of justice into revitalization practice is critical for correcting injustice faced by the community. This paper investigates brownfield revitalization projects implemented in the Arkwright community in Spartanburg, South Carolina and explores stakeholders' definitions of justice and how the abstract thoughts were transformed into elements of the projects. The stakeholders defined justice as equality, fairness, correctness, and involvement. Equality was pursued by programs of improving community living quality for giving every resident an equal opportunity to enjoy a better neighborhood. Fairness was sought by providing services to help residents reach an ideal living status regardless of race, ethnicity, and income. Correctness was attempted by correcting past transgressions. Involvement was addressed by keeping stakeholders informed, building communication channels and improving the community's capacity for meaningful participation. Two factors necessary for successful community regeneration are extracted, trust between stakeholders and a holistic revitalization approach. Pursuing a vision shared by stakeholders through the coordination of grassroots organizations that witness the injustice history and insist on correcting it, restorative justice between environmental offenders and victims could be achieved even if that was not their original purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role and process of facilitation in restorative justice (RJ). Drawing from a victim offender conferencing program used after serious crime in New South Wales Australia, 84 interviews with restorative facilitators were thematically analysed. The skills, techniques and strategies used to prepare, conduct and de-brief cases are considered including managing complex cases where participants present with intense anger and grief, poor insight into offending and cognitive and mental health issues. While good facilitation is in part the result of knowledge, training and experience, the art of great facilitation relates to the interplay of the facilitator's inherent characteristics, capacities and world-views alongside this knowledge, skill and experience. While facilitating well is premised on an appreciation of the alchemy that exists within RJ, advanced facilitators use the alchemy to shape the process. Good practice is further enabled through workplace structures that support a team approach where there is open deliberation around needs, risk and harm. Because good facilitation is paramount to the best practice of RJ this paper has implications for current policy debates concerning RJ standards and the training and accreditation of RJ practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critics assert that a significant proportion of incarcerated individuals suffers from mental health issues, i.e. ‘the criminalization hypothesis.’ The current paper reviews the scholarly literature to address five interrelated questions: (1) What are the risks of those classified as mentally ill for committing crimes and, in particular, violent crimes? (2) As the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, what happens during ‘first encounters’ between the police with those who have mental illnesses? (3) What community-based services are available for effective diversions as an alternative to incarceration for those with mental illnesses? (4) What are the impacts of treatment options upon those experiencing mental illnesses while incarcerated, including the impact upon recidivism? (5) What types of pre-release planning and community responses have the most positive effects to help reduce recidivism and assist offenders in coping with mental health issues in the Canadian context? After summarizing key evidence pertaining to these questions, the paper presents case studies as exemplars of ‘best practices’ to illustrate promising directions conducive to integrated, holistic, and effective responses at the intersection of the criminal justice and mental health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of facilitators, staff, and volunteers to restorative justice programs, we know very little about what they think about the goals of restorative justice. This paper fills that gap by reporting the findings of a survey of restorative justice practitioners in Nova Scotia, Canada. Participants rated the importance of 29 justice-related goals such as punishment and accountability. The results show how respondents distinguish between, prioritize, and balance competing justice goals. A factor analysis shows how goals cluster together revealing more depth about how practitioners understand goals, such as accountability, that have different meanings depending on the context. The findings are particularly interesting because the restorative justice program in Nova Scotia is deeply embedded in the criminal justice system. The findings speak to concerns about whether programs rooted in the mainstream system risk being diluted by dominant criminal justice system discourses. I conclude that restorative justice practitioners can prioritize the values of restorative justice in a program that is deeply rooted in the mainstream criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prior to 2016, the push for prosecutorial reform came from many different corners: legislators, nonprofits, and the larger community discontented with the justice system. In many ways, Trump's campaign and election may have accelerated efforts to reform District Attorney offices across the country. With 51 decidedly progressive candidates winning office since 2016, it's clear there is momentum for substantive change. Through an examination of policy statements and media coverage, this paper will examine the qualitative research question of what the scope of the District Attorney reform movement is; we posit a continuum of reformers, from the 'disruptor' (who wants to fundamentally change multiple structural components of the system) to the 'pruner' (whose reform intent is more circumscribed). First, we examine the role of the prosecutor, prior efforts at reform, and the federal landscape as it relates to change. We then examine the push for prosecutorial reform – from within – from these newly elected DA's who have taken office since 2016, and consider their agendas, as well as the headwinds these prosecutors face as they try to make the changes they are promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]