The object of this study was to meet with offenders and victims of crime who recently participated in victim-offender-mediation, in order to explore their experiences and feelings about it. The method of research was individual qualitative interviews with two offenders and two crime victims. The main questions aimed to find out how the participants felt about the mediation process, what experiences they had about the person they had to face during the meeting, and finally what thoughts they had about the crime and its consequences. In helping to analyze the results of the interviews, Reintegrative Shaming Theory and Theories of attribution were used. The former was used to try to explain the feelings resembling shame that emerged during the meeting, while the latter was helpful in order to understand the descriptions the participants used when they talked about the other person. The results showed that both offenders and victims found the mediation to be helpful, mostly because it made them understand the other person better. Most of them also shared the feeling that they had been able to move on and not think about the crime as much as before.

This essay examines the differences between the mediation practices concering youth crime in the swedish cities of Kalmar and Växjö. The analysis are made with the use of quality interviews which we have linked together with the three theories of Social Control Theory, Restorative Justice and Transformative Mediation. There after we have compared the results with one and another. Results show that there both similarities and differences, both in the theoretical aspects and in the organisations, for example the coopiration with the prosecutors and the police.

The northern region of Uganda has been plagued by violent conflict for over two decades. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been waging war against the current government of Uganda under the leadership of President Museveni. The Acholi community resident in the North of Uganda has been most affected by this war. In recent years however Northern Uganda has enjoyed relative calm following an agreement for the cessation of hostilities between the LRA and the government to allow for peace talks. Following the anticipated end of this conflict, the international community, the government and local organisations have engaged in a number of interventions and mechanisms that would assist in peace building. A fundamental intervention that has been formulated and administered to this end is the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme for the ex-LRA combatants. The DDR process has had the sole objective of enabling formerly abducted children to transform their lives from violence into civility and community. It has been the premise that if this transformation were to occur then societies could be made peaceful. There has been growing support for these programmes but there has been very little analysis done of the utility of these programmes and the consequential impacts that these programmes have on the local indigenous communities. Though well intentioned, there is much work to be done to assess the utility and success of reintegration initiatives in granting the formerly abducted children and local populations' lifestyles that are reasonably free from fear and want.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

The Rome Statute saw the provision of three statutory rights for victims: the right to participation, protection, and reparations. The addition of these rights is an attempt to incorporate elements of restorative and reparative justice processes into a primarily retributive system. The emerging jurisprudence shows there are competing tensions developing in all areas. The right to participation saw initially broad decisions consistently scaled back by the Appeals Chamber to ensure a more streamlined approach. The right to protection, in contrast, has continued to be upheld by all Court levels resulting in significant trial challenges and delays. While the right to reparations remains untested, it is likely to only partially fulfill restorative aims. This thesis argues that while victim involvement has altered the traditional trial process, restorative aims will remain unmet. However, victim involvement has begun to shed light on the competing purposes of justice within the Rome Statute framework.

The research focuses on the human dignity of prisoners and their families. The dominant human rights perspective of human dignity in terms of retributive justice is critiqued for its punishment approach of imprisonment which does not meet the benchmark of respecting human dignity but instead perpetuates experiences of indignity for prisoners and their families. While the approach of human rights under restorative justice as opposed to retributive justice is supported as a better approach to counter indignity, it’s dominant approaches are also shown to particularly overlook the dignity of prisoners and their families by often not focusing on their plight, and neglecting the very values of restorative justice. A case study of the Phoenix Zululand restorative justice programme, in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa confirms that a restorative justice approach that respects these values can re-humanise prisoners and their families. The study includes a discussion of the Christian perspective on human dignity, which forms a basis for a theological response to the indignity experienced by prisoners and their families. The concepts of Imago Dei and Imago Trinitatis as fully revealed in Jesus Christ lay the foundation for human dignity in the Christian perspective. The study concludes by showing how this theological basis has implications for the Church in working with prisoners and their families and also highlights some areas for future research. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This thesis begins with an introduction and methodology that presents two major research questions: “Can restorative justice exist within a zero-tolerance framework,” and, “What are the challenges that stand in the way of implementing restorative justice ideologies fully at Glenside High School?” The author provides an autobiographical statement to give context to his positionality within this research. A comprehensive literature review highlights a brief history of restorative justice, a description of the harmful effects of punitive discipline, and results from different communities that have implemented restorative justice. The three major respondents are introduced in order to provide context to their positionality within this research. The author presents his research findings based on qualitative field notes from site visits to a public, Southern California high school in addition to responses from interviews with teachers and a restorative justice expert. The author concludes by arguing for the implementation of restorative justice in a widespread manner in individual schools, in addition to comprehensive teacher training in pre-professional programs for prospective teachers and the need to shift from “teach to the test” ideologies to holistic student development pedagogies.

Violence against women by their male intimate partners remains a serious problem in all parts of Canadian society. Both the Canadian state and Canadian feminist anti-violence activists have explored legal responses to ending intimate violence, including criminalisation, and restorative justice. To date these legal responses have not effectively reduced the rates of intimate violence in Canada. This dissertation explores state and community-based legal responses to intimate violence in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada between 1999 and 2010, where both criminalisation and restorative justice were legislated responses to intimate violence. While restorative justice, in the form of Alternative Measures, was an available option in these cases, it was rarely applied. Criminalisation in the form of prosecution was also an option, but was applied in less than fifty percent of cases. Instead a peace bond, a form of criminally legislated restraining order, was often used. Research participants saw peace bonds as a flawed justice response to intimate violence, and described ways in which they felt peace bonds contributed to the revictimisation of survivors of intimate violence. Significantly, many research participants mislabeled peace bonds, attributing these negative characteristics to ‘restorative justice’. This dissertation draws on interviews with research participants, and existing empirical research on intimate violence, to outline some characteristics of a better justice response to intimate violence. That is; a hybrid justice response which includes models that are typically associated with both the restorative justice movement, and with the criminalisation of intimate violence. Regardless of what we call them, justice responses must take as their political and practical starting point the restoration of survivors of intimate violence, their families and their communities to full social, economic and political participation in Canadian society. To reinsert ‘justice’ into state and community responses to intimate violence, these practices need to be taken up, consciously, as a political tool. / Graduate

The aim of this study was to critically examined the juvenile justice system with regard to the theory of restorative justice as a better alternative to the punitive system that recognizes the rights of children as human rights is in line with the convention on the rights of the child. This research looked at punishment as a penal option, which the court imposes on a person for committing a crime. By means of a case study with regards to the One Stop Youth Justice Centre in Port Elizabeth, this study argued that the restorative method of dealing with youth offenders is a better alternative in contrast to the punitive system.