Healing circles: A gentler justice 131- Circles of understanding focus on getting at the underlying causes of a conlict or behavior,
and generally do not concern themselves with decision making. - Healing circles provide support for people who have been victims of trauma or loss, and can
include a plan of support. - Sentencing circles combine members of the community and the criminal justice system, as
well as the ofender, the victim, and the victim’s family. he purpose is to examine the motive
and circumstances that led to a crime, in addition to its harmful impact on the victim and the
victim’s family. Determined by consensus, the sentence can include responsibilities for its
implementation and monitoring. Sentencing circles also determine ways to prevent the recur-
rence of a crime.
5.Support circles help people through times of personal loss or diiculty.
6.Community-building circles strengthen relationships and develop a common purpose.
7.Conict circles aim to arrive at a consensus decision that will resolve a dispute. - Reintegration circles help repair relationships and reconcile estranged parties, or assist an
individual to reenter the community ater a period of incarceration. - Celebration, or honoring, circles recognize the accomplishments of community members
and share their joy and success.
Challenges, rewards, and widespread adoption
12 Based on the simple concept of caring for others in need as we would have them care for us,
the practice of healing circles comes with its challenges. Achieving justice is a time-consuming
process in the traditional legal system, and healing circles are no exception. Participants must be
trained and fully committed not only to a lengthy and painful process, but also to its atermath.
During the circle, they must put aside personal prejudices and learn to speak the truth and to
listen with an open heart. When laymen and professionals have been raised and educated in a
society that encourages competition, confrontation, and separation, making the shit to coopera-
tion, sensitivity, and spiritual connection can be very diicult. Also, since consensus decisions
require the agreement of all participants, some members may feel pressured to give in to the
group.
13 No human process is perfect, but when healing circles and restorative justice, as they are
known in their broader sense, succeed, the rewards outweigh the challenges. Since there are nei-
ther winners nor losers and participants have a vested interest in the outcome, everyone is more
likely to work together to see a decision through. A 2007 metastudy of research conducted into
restorative justice from 1986 to 2005 found that victims were able to resume a normal life and to
sleep at night; that ofenders were neither abusive toward their victims, nor were they likely to
reofend; and that the community felt more secure.
14 In 1991, Chief Judge Barry Stuart of the Territorial Court of Yukon introduced sentencing
circles into the justice process in northern Canada. Since then, First Nations people have been
training nonnative professionals in the use of healing circles, and they have met with success in
the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Since the 1980s, the Hollow Water First Nation
Community Holistic Healing Circle in Hollow Water, Manitoba, has used healing circles to deal
with cases involving alcoholism and sexual abuse. In 1996, the healing circle was applied for the
irst time in the United States in the Mille Lacs Circle Sentencing Project on the Mille Lacs Indian
reservation in Minnesota. In various settings and situations involving both juvenile and adult
ofenders all over the world, healing circles and restorative justice are making their way from an
ancient tradition to a modern worldwide movement, ultimately ensuring that justice serves all.
After reading
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