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Justice work continues growing throughout Prison Fellowship. National ministries are responding to need for change and government calls for input on justice issues. For some, this means starting or expanding programmes such as Communities of Restoration (APAC) or Sycamore Tree Project®. For others, this means developing their own programmes to meet the needs of offenders and victims.

The following tables show the growing involvement of national ministries seeking to apply biblical principles of justice and righteousness in their system.

National Ministry Justice Activities in 2005

• PF Antigua and Barbuda—Operated a crime and violence prevention programme in schools
• PF Argentina- Signed agreement with Entre Rios state government to provide a pre- and post-release programme based on the APAC human valorization methodology
• PF Australia (Victoria) Developing a victim awareness programme
• PF Belize – conducted public education to support prison reforms
• PF Benin—Conducted training for magistrates
• PF Bolivia – Expanded provision of legal assistance to more prisons; Continued work with mediation centres; co-hosted the 2nd National Congress of Criminology of Environmental Justice; Seminar on restorative justice
• PF Botswana—Hosted a restorative justice seminar for judges and lawyers
• PF Brasil—Offered IV National Seminar on the APAC methodology with support from the Minas Gerais Court of Justice
• PF Cambodia—Continued implementation of reintegration programme
• PF Cameroon—Conducted an alternatives to prison seminar
• PF Central African Republic—Managed a Victim Offender Reconciliation Programme
• PF Colombia—Partnered with a local university to conduct an evaluation of the Sycamore Tree Project®; Participated in a working group negotiating a peace process with a former guerilla leader
• PF Costa Rica—Organized a restorative justice seminar at a local university
• PF Ecuador—Provided legal assistance to prisoners
• PF El Salvador – Participated in a legislative initiative to reform the criminal justice system
• PF England and Wales—Received accreditation with the Open University for the Sycamore Tree Project® so that participating offenders receive academic credit; Released a programme evaluation indicating a significant improvement in participants’ attitudes towards offending after completing the Sycamore Tree Project®
• PF Estonia—Continued work with Halfway house and Victim offender mediation
• PF Ethiopia—Undertook a study visit to South Africa to learn about prison management
• PF Georgia—Provided legal assistance
• PF Honduras—Contributed to a draft prison system bill
• PF Hong Kong—Co-sponsored Symposium on Criminal Justice Reform
• PF Jamaica – participated in Ministry of Justice symposium on restorative justice; organized training event for volunteers on restorative justice
• PF Lithuania—Published a newsletter on justice issues
• PF New Zealand—Conducted victim offender encounter meetings; Organized a restorative justice seminar at a Christian leadership conference; Released programme evaluation results indicating a significant improvement of participants’ attitudes toward offending after completing the Sycamore Tree Project®
• PF Panama—Created a Penal Council working on law reform; Presented restorative justice concepts to a government law reform commission
• PF Philippines—Co-organized a series of awareness raising events on restorative justice at Ministry of Justice, Supreme Court College, Bureau of Probation and Parole, Human Rights Commission, Bureau of Jail and Prison Management, law school, local seminary, and prison ministry groups.
• PF Romania—Helped develop training in European standards for prison management for several prisons in the country
• PF Scotland—Completed a study tour to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand researching programme models
• PF Sierra Leone—Started a pilot project on restorative justice
• PF Swaziland—Organized a restorative justice seminar
• PF Switezerland/PF Russia—Organized two Ethics in Corrections seminars for Russian prison officials
• PF Trinidad and Tobago—Organized a one day restorative justice seminar for the Prison Service
• PF Uganda—Worked with other groups on the abolition of the death penalty
• PF Zimbabwe—Presented information on prison overcrowding to government committee on Justice and Legal Affairs

 
Sycamore Tree Project®

As of 2005, the following national ministries were running or had run the programme at least once:

• PF Australia (Western Australia)
• PF Cayman Islands
• PF Colombia
• PF Costa Rica
• PF England and Wales
• PF Hong Kong
• PF Hungary
• PF Korea
• PF New Zealand
• PF Northern Ireland
• PF Rwanda
• PF Scotland
• PF South Africa
• PF USA

 

National Ministries working toward implementation include:

• PF Argentina
• PF Canada
• PF El Salvador
• PF Guam
• PF Hong Kong
• PF Malawi
• PF Palau
• PF Panama
• PF Papua New Guinea
• PF Swaziland
• PF the Netherlands

 

Communities of Restoration (APAC)

As of 2004, programmes based on the APAC-methodology were running in:

• PF Argentina
• PF Australia (Victoria)
• PF Belize
• PF Bolivia
• PF Brazil
• PF Bulgaria
• PF Chile
• PF Ecuador
• PF England and Wales
• PF Germany
• PF Latvia
• PF New Zealand
• PF USA

 
Countries working toward implementation:

• PF Costa Rica
• PF Mexico
• PF Norway
• PF Scotland

 
Centre for Justice and Reconciliation at PFI Onsite Assistance to National Ministries
 

Dan Van Ness

• PF Belize: pre-charter consultation with the Kolbe Foundation
• PF England and Wales: Attended Sycamore Tree Project® training
• PF Jamaica: Provided volunteer training on restorative justice; participated in the “Restorative Justice: Opportunities Fair” sponsored by the Ministry of Justice in Kingston, Jamaica
• PF the Netherlands: Met with national ministry and government officials on the Sycamore Tree Project® and Communities of Restoration (APAC)
• PF Philippines: Conducted series of lectures on restorative justice for the national ministry and other members of the Coalition for Restorative Justice in Manila, Philippines
• PF Romania and PF Finland: Hosted a study week on restorative justice for national ministry representatives

 
Miguel Tello

• Latin America: Organized RJ seminar on restorative justice for participants from 12 different countries
• Latin America: Provide peacemaking circles training for several national ministry leaders
• PF Belize: Provided technical assistance
• PF Bolivia: Provided Sycamore Tree Project® and restorative justice training
• PF Costa Rica: Assisted in implementation of the Sycamore Tree Project; offered restorative justice seminar at various universities; Provided technical assistance in APAC implementation
• PF Peru: Provided Sycamore Tree Project® training

 

Graeme Taylor

STP on site training

• PF Queensland, Brisbane (Australia)  
• PF Western Australia, (Australia)
• PF South Africa, PF Swaziland, and PF Ethiopia
• PF Malawi                                                      

 
STP on site introduction

• PF Queensland, Cairns (Australia)
• PF Guam                                        
• PF Hong Kong                                

 
Lynette Parker

• PF Trinidad and Tobago: Participated in one day seminar on restorative justice
• PF Romania and PF Finland: Hosted a study week on restorative justice for national ministry representatives

 
Centre Long Distance Assistance to National Ministries

STP distance assistance
Many NMs have been assisted with STP via e-mail and phone calls. These have included the following NMs.

• PF New South Wales, (Australia)
• PF Western Australia (Australia)
• PF Queensland, (Australia)
• PF South Africa
• PF Belize
• PF Costa Rica

 

Other long distance assistance

• PF Australia (Western Australia): programme models for working with sex offenders returning to the community
• PF Belize: drafted Restorative Justice Services Act to replace Belizean Prison Act
• PF Bermuda: information on the impact of incarceration on the children of prisoners
• PF Bolivia: information on managing mediation centres
• PF Cameroon: information on restorative justice
• PF Costa Rica: study materials on biblical justice; handouts for restorative justice seminar; information on spiritual formation programmes for Communities of Restoration (APAC) programmes
• PF France: introductory material on restorative justice
• PF Hong Kong: information on restorative justice programmes in preison and restorative justice in Asia
• PF Namibia:  statistical research on the death penalty
• PF New Zealand: Prisons exemplifying best practice
• PF Panama: introductory materials on restorative justice to give to  government officials
• PF Puerto Rico: investigated policy changes in US federal prisons
• PF Singapore: articles on faith-based rehabilitation programmes
• PF South Africa: restorative justice information for presentation to police

 

Restorative Justice Bible Study

• Developed and distributed a study titled “What is restorative justice?”

 

Centre Websites

• Twelve editions of the Justice Network Newsletter
• 11 editions of the Stories from Under the Tree newsletter
• Monthly updates to the home page of www.pficjr.org

 

Consultations

• Dan made a consultation visit to Probation projects in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thiland. Presented papers: “Observations and Recommendations” and “International Trends and Developments in Restorative Justice.”
• Lynette organized a workshop on the Sycamore Tree Project® for the V meeting of the International Prison Chaplains Association.

Papers and Articles

Dan

• Paper on RJ City presented at the “Changing Criminal Justice System: Transforming Practice Through Restorative Justice” Conference in Fresno, California

 
Lynette

• “Justiça Restaurativa: Um Veículo para a Reforma?”  in Slakmon, C., R. De Vitto, e R. Gomes Pinto, org., 2005. Justiça Restaurativa (Brasília – DF: Ministério da Justiça e Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento - PNUD).
• “Legislación de Justicia Restaurativa.” Paper presented at  Construyendo la Justicia Restaurativa en America Latina. Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica. 22-24 September 2005.

 

Miguel

• “Construcción de una Estrategia para Ampliar la Justicia Restaurativa en América Latina.” Paper presented at  Construyendo la Justicia Restaurativa en America Latina. Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica. 22-24 September 2005.

 
UN Activities

• Dan and Lynette attended the 11th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Bangkok, Thailand.
• Dan presented paper in Ancillary Meeting: “Restorative Justice in Prisons” and a paper in Workshop 2: “An Overview of Restorative Justice Around the World”  and offered two statements on behalf of PFI: “PFI Statement on Corruption” and “PFI Statement on Standards and Norms”
• Lynette presented a paper in an Ancillary Meeting: “Developing Restorative Practices in Latin America.”
• Lynette attended 3 meetings of the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. She also chaired a working party preparing for the Crime Congress and one preparing for the Alliance’s 2006 elections.

 

Restorative Justice Online

• 12 editions
• Launched new, expanded sites in English, Spanish and French
• 1214 abstracts added to the searchable database

2004 in Review
2003 in Review