Community Service Foundation (CSF), which operates model programs of the International Institute for Restorative Practices, developed the Restorative Reporting Centers (RRC) in partnership with the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA, Department of Juvenile Probation. Instead of sending youth away to residential placement, this community-based program allows them to remain home with their families and in their home schools and immerses them in an intensive environment of restorative practices during evenings and weekends. The model aims to reduce recidivism by holding youth accountable for their behavior and enabling them to make positive changes in their lives, while also addressing the need for community safety. Family engagement is an essential program component. This article includes information on how the program operates and interviews with youth, family members and program developers.

The fourth commencement of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) Graduate School, on June 25th, 2011, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA, included 35 graduates and a crowd of 230-plus family and friends. Just two days before, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education granted the IIRP official accreditation status. This article includes a link to a video of a "talking circle" with 10 graduates speaking about their IIRP experience.

Through a combination of grassroots efforts and government support, Nova Scotia, Canada, has the potential to become "a restorative province." This article by Mary Shafer and Laura Mirsky tells how the restorative approach is being implemented in schools and communities and includes interviews with education and agency professionals.

IIRP  | 2010-10-29 |

View the conference schedule and presentation materials (where provided).

The Huikahi Restorative Circle is a group reentry planning process involving the incarcerated individual, his or her family and friends and at least one prison representative. This article in the June 2010 issue of Federal Probation provides a history and philosophy of this restorative practice, as well as outcome data regarding those who have participated in the process, which show extremely high participant satisfaction rates as well as significantly less recidivism than current state of Hawai'i and national rates.

Kate Shapero | 2009-10-14 |

This article, adapted from an essay by Kate Shapero, who is pursuing a Master of Restorative Practices and Education at the IIRP Graduate School, examines the reasons for each step in the restorative conference facilitator’s script, as delineated in the Conferencing Handbook, by Terry O’Connell, Ben Wachtel and Ted Wachtel.

The Children’s Aid Society of New York is successfully employing restorative practices in its work with youth in several of the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. This article by Abbey J. Porter and Laura Mirsky includes comments from Ana Bermudez, director of The Children’s Aid Society’s juvenile justice programs, as well as stories about how the practices are being implemented.

Family group decision making (FGDM), also known as family group conferencing (FGC), is proving to be a beneficial restorative practice to help reintegrate prison inmates back into society. This article by Deni Thurman-Eyer and Laura Mirsky addresses restorative FGDM/FGC programs in prisons in Adams County, Pennsylvania, USA, and in Hungary.

June 20, 2009 marked the second commencement of the IIRP Graduate School, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. This article by Laura Mirsky shares stories about some of the 14 master's degree recipients and reports on the commencement address, which was delivered by restorative justice pioneer Terry O'Connell, director of IIRP affiliate Real Justice Australia.

Dominic Barter has helped bring restorative practices to the poverty-ridden favelas (shantytowns) of urban Brazil, where violence is endemic. This article by Joshua Wachtel includes information about a model for nonviolent communication, restorative circles, which is proving highly effective in resolving conflicts in schools, criminal justice and other settings.