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This publication, written
by Susan Sharpe, looks
closely at Calgary
Community
Conferencing (CCC), a
highly innovative
Restorative Justice
program that is widely
considered the model in
Canada for working with
youth justice issues.
"This guide concerns the
practice of restorative
justice...Its goal is to
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highlight some of the
issues related to the
practice of restorative
justice and how they can
play out in a program's
operation" (p. 6).
Calgary Community
Conferencing is six
years old. The envy of
Canada, it is a
challenging instance of
multiple agency
cooperation that has
established a superb
peacemaking
response to youth
crime in greater
Calgary.
The thesis of the
book's underlying
philosophy is simply
presented in the
Introduction by
dignified
understatement:
"Educational and
justice systems in
Western culture have
traditionally relied on
clear rules, consistent
controls, and
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punishment to teach
responsibility and to
keep people safe. It
turns out, though, that
responsibility and
safety are achieved
more effectively
through restorative
interventions than
through punitive ones
(p. 5, italics added)".
Twenty years ago, a
Canadian coalition
against capital
punishment posed an
unanswerable
question which,
modified, underscores
this observation:
Continued on page 3
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