*YOU* can help determine whether an excellent documentary TV
program on Restorative Justice is shown in your area by NBC!
"_Restoring_Justice_" is a new one-hour special TV program which
examines the success of Restorative Justice, an innovative approach
to crime and punishment which focuses on restoring and safeguarding
victims of crime, provides healing processes for communities, and
creates ways for offenders to earn their way back into society.
The program features Family Group Conferencing (FGC), a dispute
resolution and sentencing method similar to the North American
first peoples' `sentencing circles', which is being taught only
since last year in the USA. Imported from Australia and New
Zealand, FGC was adapted (with very little change) from the
traditions of the Maori, the indigenous people of the island nation
of New Zealand. Within two years after it was mandated by the
parliament there, the use of the community-based FGC method
resulted in a reduction of that nation's juvenile justice
facilities from 18 to 2!
This program was produced by the National Council of Churches, and
was taped in Allentown, PA, Akron, OH, Bend, OR, Batavia, NY,
Cleveland, OH, Denver, CO, and the twin cities of Minneapolis & St.
Paul in Minnesota. It is a very good tool for educating people
about Restorative Justice; a cutting edge concept in criminal
justice today, but a very old concept in human history.
"_Restoring_Justice_" was transmitted by NBC to its affiliated
stations on May 30th, and they will have the *option* to air the
program anytime between now and July 30th. Without sufficient
community interest, the documentary may not be aired at all by the
local affiliated stations, or may be scheduled to air at a time and
date when very few people will see it.
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| PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL NBC STATION ABOUT THIS PROGRAM |
| AND ASK OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR COMMUNITY TO DO THE SAME !! |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
Ask your NBC station's Program Director *when* (not if)
"_Restoring_Justice_" will be shown !!! Do it NOW !!!!
Please ask that the program be shown, and that it be aired at a
time when it is accessible to most viewers. You may want to point
out that:
(A) Crime, and new responses to it, touch the whole community;
(B) Restorative Justice methods promise new relief for taxpayers.
John V. Wilmerding
Friends for Restorative Justice
<jwlmrdng@doc.state.vt.us>
"A restorative response to crime is a community-building response."
- Kay Pranis, State of Minnesota DOC's Restorative Justice Planner
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there,
no constitution, no law, no court can save it."-Judge Learned Hand