NCJ Number
177564
Date Published
May 1998
Length
147 pages
Annotation
This report evaluates a restorative justice program operated by the police in Bethlehem, PA.
Abstract
The Bethlehem Pennsylvania Family Group Conferencing Project determined that: (1) Typical American police officers are capable of conducting conferences consistent with due process and restorative justice principles, given adequate training and supervision; (2) Conferencing did not transform police attitudes, organization culture or role perceptions, but those with the most exposure did move toward a more community-oriented, problem-solving stance; (3) Police-facilitated restorative conferences can produce conflict-reducing outcomes, most clearly in cases of interpersonal violence; (4) Victims, offenders and parents who participated accepted the police-based restorative justice; and (5) Police-facilitated restorative conferences produced participant satisfaction and perceptions of fairness at least as high as other restorative justice programs and the courts. Notes, figures, appendixes