Jesse Epp-Fransen recently attended a Restorative Justice conference hosted by West Coast MCC.
Restorative justice works! This was the message of the Day of Justice held in Fresno, California, on March 16, 2012. The conference, put on by West Coast Mennonite Central Committee, featured members of local law enforcement, a judge, a leading advocate for the “three strikes” law in California, and members of the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in Fresno.
The participants brought varied opinions and a range of perspectives on restorative justice. Restorative justice is a perspective on addressing crime that puts healing and community support at the heart of its action. While some speakers were cautious of giving full support to the restorative justice model, other panelists, such as Reedley Police Chief Joe Garza, expressed being confident that restorative justice was the direction law enforcement needed to move.
Read the entire reflection here.
Learn more about West Coast MCC here and the Washington Office’s work on restorative justice here.
Posted by jesseeppfransen 
Since 2007, nearly 40,000 people have been killed as a result of the Mexican “drug war.” Approximately 80 to 90 percent of the guns used by Mexican drug cartels originate from gun sellers in the United States. Weak gun laws within the US have created an open market by which unlicensed sellers are able to sell guns without a background check. Current figures estimate that 2,000 weapons flow from the United States each day. Easy access to guns has increased the violence in Mexico, contributing to the execution of 34,162 Mexicans, the disappearance of 5,397 individuals, and the kidnapping of 11,333 migrants in recent years.
