This book, based on a large-scale research project funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides an overview of the restorative justice conferencing programs currently in operation in the United States, paying particular attention to the qualitative dimensions of this, based on interviews, focus groups and ethnographic observation. It provides an unrivalled view of restorative justice conferencing in practice, and what the people involved felt and thought about it. The book looks at four structural variations in the face-to-face form of restorative decision making: family group conferences, victim-offender mediation/dialogue, neighborhood accountability boards, peacemaking circles. The authors address two issues that have received limited research emphasis in restorative justice: the lack of clear and consistent standards, and the absence of testable theories of intervention that reflect what has become a rather diverse practice. In response the authors conclude with a proposed structure for principle-based evaluation designed to test emerging theories of restorative decision making.

This book, based on a large-scale research project funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides an overview of the restorative justice conferencing programs currently in operation in the United States, paying particular attention to the qualitative dimensions of this, based on interviews, focus groups and ethnographic observation. It provides an unrivalled view of restorative justice conferencing in practice, and what the people involved felt and thought about it. The book looks at four structural variations in the face-to-face form of restorative decision making: family group conferences, victim-offender mediation/dialogue, neighborhood accountability boards, peacemaking circles. The authors address two issues that have received limited research emphasis in restorative justice: the lack of clear and consistent standards, and the absence of testable theories of intervention that reflect what has become a rather diverse practice. In response the authors conclude with a proposed structure for principle-based evaluation designed to test emerging theories of restorative decision making.

The thirty-five chapters in this book are edited versions of papers presented at the Advanced Research Workshop, State Intervention on Behalf of Children and Youth, which took place in Maratea, Italy, February 20-24, 1989. The Workshop was attended by leading child welfare researchers from most of the Western countries. Represented were scholars and practitioners from disciplines as diverse as law, social work, neurology, economics, political science, education, psychology, and psychiatry. This variety of disciplines considerably enriched the discussions at the Workshop and is reflected in a set of interesting and, we believe, potentially useful research papers. This book is divided into four sections, each dealing with dominant themes of state intervention. The first section deals with research on organizing for state intervention and related ways of providing accountability. The second section deals with research on young persons in conflict with the law, the third with research on child abuse and the final section with research on children in care. Many of the matters addressed in these papers relate to more than one of the topical theme headings and, therefore, might well have been located in different sections of the volume. Each section is introduced by an introductory statement that provides an overview of the papers and issues addressed, and suggests an agenda of research work to be undertaken. These introductions are based largely on workshop discussions and do not necessarily represent the views of their identified authors.

Life's little challenges get a little easier --- and a lot less embarrassing --- when you know you're not the only one going through them. Here is a collection of stories about life with all it's sorrows, joys, fears, and hope. Told with warmth, ease and humor, these stories encapsulate the feeling of life in the new South, of growing up in the old South, working hard, making mistakes and finding our way. So grab a glass of iced tea, pull up a chair, and get ready to laugh, cry and recognize yourself and your own friends and family in these stories --- and, of course, learn why the biggest decisions should always be made with hot dogs.

Describes the ideas and associated mathematical concepts behind signal to noise ratio and target detectability.

There have been substantial developments in the field of program evaluation in Canada in recent years, specifically in the evaluation of justice programs. However, there is very little published material available on program evaluations of justice programs in Canada. Evaluating Justice: Canadian Policies and Programs is intended to address this need and to serve as a supplementary text and reader that provides Canadian materials and cases illustrating basic principles for organizing and doing program evaluation research. Practitioners in private practice and those employed in government as evaluators will find this book a useful source of information about the evaluation of justice programs in this country. The book contains sections on the police, courts and corrections. Each chapter consists of case studies dealing with different substantive matters and justice programs undertaken in different parts of the country. Each chapter presents basic information about the substantive program as well as the approach used in its formal evaluation. Each chapter is written by a Canadian scholar or practitioner.