Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Restorative Justice in Northern Ireland: Ten Years OnJohn E Stannard, Queen’s University, Belfast (j.stannard@qub.ac.uk)The first day of December 2013 marks the tenth anniversary of the coming into force of theprovisions relating to youth conferences in Northern Ireland. The effect of these provisions,which were set out in Part 4 of the Justice (NI) Act 2002, was to put the principles of restorativejustice at the very heart of the system for dealing with young offenders in that jurisdiction. Sincethen these provisions have been operating alongside other community based restorative justiceschemes, so making the province of Northern Ireland a key focus for those interested in theoperation of restorative justice in the practical context. The purpose of this to compare andcontrast, in the light of the relevant academic literature, the operation of these two frameworksfrom a restorative justice perspective, the aim being to identify the strengths and weaknesses ofeach approach, and to consider what lessons might be learned for the future.210. TJ & Victims’ RightsDomestic Violence Murder – New Example of Sweeping Improvements to the‘Slayer Statute’ to Better Prevent Killers from Profiting and Help Families toHealR. Keith Perkins, Never Again Foundation, Phoenix, USA (keith@neveragainfoundation.org)Nearly every state in the United States has a “slayer” statute with the intent to prevent killersfrom financially profiting from murder. Unfortunately, significant loopholes have existed fordecades in most slayer statutes which permit a large percentage of killers to still financially profitor direct financial profits from homicide. In 2012, the Never Again Foundation (which representsfamilies in civil actions to prevent killers from profiting from domestic violence murder)successfully led a sweeping legislative update in which the Arizona legislature unanimouslybanned these loopholes and simultaneously provided victims with unparalleled civil remediesagainst killers. With more than 100 domestic violence murders each year, Arizona’s new slayerstatute is now the strongest against killers in the United States, and serves as a potential modelfor other jurisdictions, including: 1) the imposition of a constructive trust on ALL killer’sproperty (i.e. such as life insurance) for payment of damages to victims; 2) specific inclusion ofmanslaughter; 3) specific inclusion of murder/suicide; 4) specific inclusion of guilty but insane;and 5) retroactive application. The results provide a new model to help families of domesticviolence murder better obtain therapeutic jurisprudence through hope, justice, and healing.Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Facilitating Healing in Crime Victims505