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Full-Text Articles in Law

Lighting A Spark, Playing With Fire: Feminism, Emotions, And The Legal Imagination Of Campus Sexual Violence, Daniel Del Gobbo May 2022

Lighting A Spark, Playing With Fire: Feminism, Emotions, And The Legal Imagination Of Campus Sexual Violence, Daniel Del Gobbo

Dalhousie Law Journal

Feminist law and policymakers have been inspired by collectively generated experiences of emotion that help to shape what counts as justice and injustice in campus sexual violence cases. Focusing on events surrounding the Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry in 2014–2015, this article explains how emotional incitements in the case contributed to an infrastructure that supported formal and specifically carceral responses to campus sexual violence. Correspondingly, this article explains why alternative modes of legal and political formation that challenged the premises of the formal law, including restorative justice, were misread by some commentators as a form of “weak justice” and therefore …


African Nova Scotian Restorative Justice: A Change Has Gotta Come, Michelle Y. Williams Oct 2013

African Nova Scotian Restorative Justice: A Change Has Gotta Come, Michelle Y. Williams

Dalhousie Law Journal

Anti-Black racism in the criminal justice system is a concern for people ofAfrican descent throughout the diaspora, including Nova Scotia-a province shaped by slavery and segregation. A relational theory of restorative justice suggests that a restorative approach to criminal harms could yield transformational results within and beyond the criminal justice system. Using a critical race analysis, this paper demonstrates that despite the theoretical promise, restorative justice practice in Nova Scotia has not met the needs of African Nova Scotians nor fundamentally transformed structural racism within the system. The author concludes that a culturally specific, community-led African Nova Scotian justice strategy …


Restorative Justice And Gendered Violence? From Vaguely Hostile Skeptic To Cautious Convert: Why Feminists Should Critically Engage With Restorative Approaches To Law, Melanie Randall Oct 2013

Restorative Justice And Gendered Violence? From Vaguely Hostile Skeptic To Cautious Convert: Why Feminists Should Critically Engage With Restorative Approaches To Law, Melanie Randall

Dalhousie Law Journal

Legalremedies for crimes ofgendered violence that are more effective, expansive, creative, victim-centred, and victim-sensitive are urgently needed. The author argues that restorative justice is one promising approach -which warrants critical engagement and, more importantly, requires input from feminists in their efforts to end violence against women. The paper concludes with some key principles and recommended directions for further engagement between feminists and proponets of restorative justice in the development of approaches to the harms of gendered violence.


Restorative Justice: Reflectionson Theory And Practice From Within The Nova Scotia Community Universityresearch Alliance, Jennifer Llewellyn, Bruce Archibald Oct 2013

Restorative Justice: Reflectionson Theory And Practice From Within The Nova Scotia Community Universityresearch Alliance, Jennifer Llewellyn, Bruce Archibald

Dalhousie Law Journal

Dear Readers, This issue of the Dalhousie Law Journal features research from the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Community University Research Alliance (NSRJ-CURA) a collaborative research alliance involving community, government and university partners. The Schulich School ofLaw at Dalhousie University has been the intellectual home forthe NSRJ-CURA since 2006. The NSRJ-CURA has focused on research related to the conceptualization and institutionalization of a restorative approach to justice. The experience of Nova Scotia's restorative justice program which is among the world leaders in the area has served as a focal point and learning laboratory for this research.


Imagining Success For A Restorative Approach To Justice: Implications For Measurement And Evaluation, Jennifer J. Llewellyn, Bruce P. Archibald, Don Clairmont, Diane Crocker Oct 2013

Imagining Success For A Restorative Approach To Justice: Implications For Measurement And Evaluation, Jennifer J. Llewellyn, Bruce P. Archibald, Don Clairmont, Diane Crocker

Dalhousie Law Journal

Whether restorative justiceis "successful," or not, is a complex question. Attempts to answer this question by practitioners, professionals, and scholars have often been bounded by common notions of success in standard criminal justice terms. The authors of this paper suggest that ifrestorative justice is properly understood in terms of its focus on relationship, success should be measured on new and different dimensions. This paper seeks to bring a relational imagination to the scholarly effort of capturing the essence ofrestorative justice and figuring out how to assess its successes and failures. The authors offer a foundation and agenda for future research …


Feeling Relational: The Use Of Buddhist Meditation In Restorative Practices, Gordon Shotwell Oct 2013

Feeling Relational: The Use Of Buddhist Meditation In Restorative Practices, Gordon Shotwell

Dalhousie Law Journal

Some theorists have argued that restorative justice can be defined as a theory of justice based on the. relationality of self-the idea that the self exists in and through its relationships with others. This account of self, while analytically compelling, conflicts with our intuitions of individuality I argue that Buddhist metaphysics provides an explanation of this conflict, and that meditation practice can help restorative justice practitioners develop an intuitive understanding of the relationality of self.


The Structure Of Dialogue: Exploring Habermas' Discourse Theory To Explain The "Magic" And Potential Of Restorative Justice Processes, Audrey L. Barrett Oct 2013

The Structure Of Dialogue: Exploring Habermas' Discourse Theory To Explain The "Magic" And Potential Of Restorative Justice Processes, Audrey L. Barrett

Dalhousie Law Journal

The theory of restorative justice has always lagged behind practice. As such, gaps in theory have developed, existed over time and continue to exist today particularly in terms of explaining the so-called "magic" that occurs within the encounter process. Byexploring the theories of Jorgen Habermas, it is suggested that new frameworks can be developed that can help theorists think about and explain the experiences central to restorative processes. This paper focuses on Habermas' theory of universal pragmatics and communicative action as a means to better understand the workings within the encounter process that give rise to common understanding, agreement, learning, …


Getting Past The Gatekeepers: The Reception Of Restorative Justice Inthe Nova Scotian Criminal Justice System, Don Clairmont, Ethan Kim Oct 2013

Getting Past The Gatekeepers: The Reception Of Restorative Justice Inthe Nova Scotian Criminal Justice System, Don Clairmont, Ethan Kim

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper draws upon twelve years of multi-dimensional research and focuses on the reception of restorative justice in the criminal justice system in Nova Scotia. The paper traces the evolution of the restorative justice social movement, examining the launching and take-off phases, the impact on the police gatekeeping role, the receptivity and use of restorative justice by other criminal justice system professionals, its current level of institutionalization in the criminal justice system, and its future prospects.


The Effects Of Regulated Discretion On Police Referrals To Restorative Justice, Diane Crocker Oct 2013

The Effects Of Regulated Discretion On Police Referrals To Restorative Justice, Diane Crocker

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program relies heavily on referrals from police who are authorized to refer a range of property and both violent and non-violent offences. Federal legislation and provincialprotocols guide referral decisions. Both are designed to ensure that police consider extra-judicial measures, including restorative justice. This article reports the findings ofa surveyof police officers on their views of restorative justice and the types of cases they consider appropriate for a referral. The findings confirm what other researchers have found about the types of cases police officers prefer to divert from mainstream criminal justice responses. Placed in the context …


Trauma-Informed Approaches To Law: Why Restorative Justice Must Understand Trauma And Psychological Coping, Melanie Randall, Lori Haskell Oct 2013

Trauma-Informed Approaches To Law: Why Restorative Justice Must Understand Trauma And Psychological Coping, Melanie Randall, Lori Haskell

Dalhousie Law Journal

Becoming trauma informed entails becoming more astutely aware of the ways in which people who are traumatized have their life trajectories shaped by the experience and its effects, and developing policies and practices which reflect this understanding. The idea that lawand, in particular the criminaljustice system, should be trauma informed is novel, and, as a result, quite underdeveloped. In this paper we advance the general argument that more effective, fair, intelligent, and just legal responses must work from a perspective which is trauma informed. We specifically apply this argument to legal work being carried out and developed under the rubric …


Creative Sentencing, Restorative Justice And Environmental Law: Responding To The Terra Nova Fpso Oil Spill, Cecily Y. Strickland, Scott Miller Oct 2007

Creative Sentencing, Restorative Justice And Environmental Law: Responding To The Terra Nova Fpso Oil Spill, Cecily Y. Strickland, Scott Miller

Dalhousie Law Journal

On 20 November 2004 the Terra Nova FPSO inadvertently discharged 165n3 of oily water into the surrounding waters of the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area. Petro-Canada was charged with having caused a spill and thereby committing an offence pursuant to the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act. This was the first charge of its type arising from offshore oil and gas operations on the east coast of Canada. The authors provide a factual overview of the incident and identify some resultant legal issues, including the application of creative sentencing and the use of probation orders.


The Challenges Of Institutionalizing Comprehensive Restorative Justice: Theory And Practice In Nova Scotia, Bruce P. Archibald, Jennifer J. Llewellyn Oct 2006

The Challenges Of Institutionalizing Comprehensive Restorative Justice: Theory And Practice In Nova Scotia, Bruce P. Archibald, Jennifer J. Llewellyn

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program ("NSRJ") is one of the oldest and by all accounts the most comprehensive in Canada. The program centres on youth justice, and operates through referrals by police, prosecutors, judges and correctional officials to community organizations which facilitate restorative conferences and other restoratively oriented processes. More than five years of NSRJ experience with thousands of cases has led to a considerable rethinking of restorative justice theory andpractice in relation to governing policies, standards for program implementation and responses to controversial issues. The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of the Nova Scotia …