ACR102, 2020

Introducing Crime and Criminal Justice

Seminar Slides
Week 6 – Innovative Justice Processes
 Contact Information

Unit Chair: Dr Andrew Groves

Burwood / Online Campus Coordinator
Room 3.06, Building D, Burwood Campus
(03) 9246 8961 andrew.groves@deakin.edu.au
Consultation time: Tuesdays 1pm on Bb, OR by appointment

“There is no such thing as a silly question…except the one that isn’t asked!”

 I hope you enjoyed the break!

 Well done on the use of the Discussion Boards, in particular those students that have
helped others, keep up the good work!

 Make sure you read all information on the Cloudsite – incl. Announcements,
Discussion Boards and Study Guides for each week.
 Important Information
• AT2 (Report) is due today Monday 24 August, 8pm (AEST).
Th
is we
• Remember: there is a grace period for all assessments Need access? !!ek
until 11:59pm on the due date; penalties will apply for These sessions have their own
submissions made from 12-midnight and after. Bb Collaborate room in the
‘Individual Seminar Rooms’ tab
(where you find your usual
seminar!)
- check page 2!!
Cloud Classroom > Bb Collaborate
Individual Seminar Rooms
• Additional support seminars:

o Study Support help with AT3 (Essay) – week 6 (only)

Monday @ 2pm
Tuesday @ 7pm

• For AT3, there are some additional resources to help with your essays! Under ‘Content', click on ‘Study Support', to find
useful resources on:
o Academic Writing
o Reading and Note-taking
o Academic Integrity & Referencing

• Online Extension Request Form – see ‘Tools > Assignment Extension Form’ – keep using for all extensions;
must include supporting documentation.
 AT3: Research & Writing Exercise #1 (Essay)
Due: Monday 14 September, 8pm (AEST)
Length: 1,500 words (±10%, i.e. max 1,650 words)
Weight: 40% of grade

Details
• Choose ONE of four questions from the Instructions guide (now available!)
• Must use a minimum of 8 (eight) academic/reputable sources
• Details on Cloud Deakin: Content > Assessment
Have you thought of
• Harvard Referencing – MUST BE USED FOR YOUR ESSAY which question to
do?
• All submissions will be automatically processed through Turnitin
• Submission must be either a Word document or PDF (no other file type accepted)

Resources
• Instructions, FAQs, Rubric, and ‘What is a reputable source?’ document
• Cloud Deakin: discussion boards, textbook, library search engines
• Study support: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support
• Library Resource Guides: For Criminology, https://deakin.libguides.com/criminology?hs=a
• Referencing: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing
 Restorative Justice in Action
Activity
• Think about what a RJ conference would actually look like.
• Who is involved?

For discussion
Consider this experience:

• How do you think you would feel?

• How might each of the parties feel about this process – what are the benefits and/or
disadvantages?
• What elements/factors must participants be mindful of?
• How does it compare with a more traditional CJS mechanism (i.e. the Court process)?
 Restorative Justice - Video

Content warning: these videos discuss real events. It is not graphic or explicit, but
does contain some upsetting scenes.

Watch Video (3 clips)

Facing the Demons
http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/facing-demons/clip1/

What are your impressions?

What is most influential/noticeable in this setting?

What do you think of the process?

 Further Discussion
• For which crimes/offenders should restorative justice be used? Have your
views changed?

• Should it only be available as a response to non-violent crime or any

offences, as long as the victim consents?

• What are the potential benefits of combining RJ with incarceration?

• Why have restorative justice approaches been used predominantly for

juvenile offending; is this appropriate/justifiable? Does the age of the
victim matter?

• Should RJ be available for offenders who have a

prior criminal history?
 Conferencing Example
In the US State of Minnesota, youths vandalised a number of ice fishing houses on a lake. The public
prosecutor, because of the difficulty of matching specific damage to specific offenders, decided not
to pursue the case. Instead, Police offered the victims an alternative response to the wrongdoing they
had suffered. One victim, whose elaborate two-storey ice fishing house had suffered considerable
damage, was enraged that the case was not going to court. He threatened to display his rage at the
conference.

The youths, the ice fishing house owners, and their respective family and friends gathered for the
conference. The offenders admitted their wrongdoing and described the damage that they had done.
Then each of the victims expressed how they had been affected by the destruction of ice houses that
they had built themselves. The adult son of the angry owner spoke for his father and expressed how
he had spent much of his childhood working with his father and the rest of his family building their
house for each winter fishing season. He suddenly realised, when faced with its destruction, how
much that experience meant to him. His father, instead of expressing his rage as threatened, chose
not to speak until the end of the conference.
Then he spoke with great emotion, thanking the youths and explaining that, until the conference, he
had never heard his son express how much their shared experience meant to him. The father then
invited all of the boys and their fathers, when the damage was repaired, to spend a weekend with his
family fishing on the lake.
 Questions to Consider
• What are the pros and cons of handling an offence like this without going
to court?

• What could be the benefit to the community of adopting more alternative

approaches to crime?

• Would such Restorative Justice eliminate the need for prisons?

• Why are politicians hesitant to promote alternative responses to crime?

The ice fishing houses Conferencing example is from a paper by Ted Wachtel, which was written as a guide to the film ‘Facing the Demons’. It provides
additional background and context for the film and RJ more generally. (http://www.iirp.edu/pdf/FacingTheDemonsStudyGuide.pdf)
 READ
Next Week Prescribed chapters from the
textbook and study guide
Crime Prevention and material prior to the
Reduction lecture/seminar.

Reminders
• Next assessment: Essay (AT3) – due Monday 14 September, 8pm

• Please attend the support sessions for AT3 (Essay), if you would like assistance
with essay writing and research:

o Monday 25 August @ 2pm

o Tuesday 26 August @ 7pm