Restorative Justice and Peacemaking

Excerpts from the Paper

Abstract
This paper shall explore non-traditional forms of justice modeled after Native American peacemaking processes. The peace circle is one of the oldest forms of community meeting and has been successfully employed in North America. The history of the modern practice is reviewed. The process is explained and the cases where it can be helpful to the community and the offender is reviewed.
Restorative Justice and Peacemaking
The current paradigm of the criminal justice system consists of a two step process: arrest, trial and conviction of the offender; then, punishment of the convicted offender (Coats, Umbreit and Vos, 2003, p.265). An alternative to the existing paradigm is a system of justice that is as old as humanity and harkens...

.....Facilitate Restorative Justice Response to Destructive Behaviors. The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN). Retrieved April 26, 2009 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=14&sid=85fe5a66-bd64-45b6-acd5-20bab1bd71ed%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=n5h&AN=2W6151159274
Coates, R., Umbreit, M. and Vos, B. (2003). Restorative Justice Circles: An Exploratory Study. Contemporary Justice Review, Volume 6 (Issue 3), 265-278.
Pranis, K. (1997). Peacemaking Circles. Corrections Today, Volume 59 (Issue 7) Retrieved April 26, 2009 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=14&sid=3a26bc69-68bd-468a-95ec-4eec31301396%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=497323