The Mentor thread..otherwise known as "not the homework" thread

[reprise]

This is one of those concepts which is either going to fly or not - so if it sinks into SDMB oblivion, then I'm not going to feel personally hurt.

As one of those people who is studying right now and sometimes thinks it would be helpful to have some kind of encouragement to "think outside the square", or to be challenged on the basic assumptions of my thesis, or just to have someone say "have you considered this resource or this viewpoint", I'd really love to in some way "formalise" this process.

For the record, my particular assessment tasks relate to models of criminal justice and to the role in the perception and community attitudes towards justice.

Our tutor has challenged us to "think outside the square" - because most of us in the "West" think of justice systems which are founded in some kind of democratic/repulican principle or we think in terms of dictatorships.

I'm thinking Swiss and Swedish parliaments for an alternative model; but when I researched the issue of abortion the other day I found out that that Northern European nations are not quite so open-minded on all issues as we all might assume.

I know that we have many members here who come from those nations; could someone please give me the "straightdope" on their laws?

[reprise]

and more importantly, I didn't establish this thread just for me.

We have a HUGE community here, many of whom are very willing to assist people in finding resources if only they are convinced that they aren't being asked to do someone else's work for them.

From the numer of "help me out" posts which are genuinely posted and responded to with sincerity, I think that perhaps we can sustain a thread of this kind.

As I said in the OP - if the demand isn't great enough, it won't fly anyway - it just struck me as a kinda cool idea.

[reprise]

spooje, I'm not only hijacking your "clearly can't spell" sig - I'm adding to it "reprise who clearly can't spell or use proper grammar or syntax". :)

[tisiphone]

Have you considered looking at the community justice model being used by the Northern First Nations?

It's based on the old tribal model. The version I've seen is that the offender goes through the current Canadian national justice system, but may opt for community justice instead of jail time. This does depend on the crime - it's still not allowed for murder or some forms of sexual assault, or at least not here.

If the offender is found guilty, he or she will face a circle of representatives from the community (generally elders) and families of all involved. The offender must face the victim and see the impact of his or her actions. The circle decides on what the offender must do for reparations, and the community enforces them.

Here's a couple of links to check out and see what you think...

http://home.istar.ca/~ccja/angl/aborit.html

http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/ajln/about.html