Peacemaking circles, their restorative and crime prevention capacities for women and children: Insights from a European pilot study

Abstract

Peacemaking or Healing circles are an approach to conflict resolution with long historical roots in many indigenous cultures going back to their so-called "talking circles." Particularly the circle tradition of First Nation people of Canada has been further developed and cultivated for dealing with crime, leading to their use in juvenile and criminal justice as well as their spread across the border to Northern US, Hawaii and as far as Australia (often referred to as sentencing circles in these contexts). This chapter is based on an international pilot study (This research project took place during the period of September 1st, 2011 to August 31st, 2013 with the Criminology Institute of the University of Tuebingen as the project coordinator and was made possible thanks to the financial support of the European commission's Criminal Justice Framework.) implementing circles for the first time in three European countries: Germany, Belgium and Hungary and offers further insights gained within this framework about their restorative capacities for victims and offenders as well as their crime prevention potentials. These insights are laid out and discussed with a specific focus on the potential benefits of Peacemaking circles for women and children as victims or offenders.