Title: Restorative Justice and Transformation Under Fire in Soweto, South Africa
Author: Lai Thom, George
Source: 6th International Conference on Restorative Justice
Date: 06/01/2003
Subject: Practice
Call Number: 200.17
Type: Paper (23p.)
Abstract: Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Restorative Justice, June 2003:
This paper looks at restorative justice practice in Soweto South Africa. It describes the author’s experience with modifying and combining current restorative justice and conflict resolution processes to respond to local cultural and social needs, in a context of a society in transition from apartheid rule to democracy and a human rights culture. It identifies dilemmas of practice for the restorative justice practitioner working in this context, and an approach to practice that presents challenges to conventional thinking, given the need to deal with the dynamics as they currently exist in the townships of South Africa.
Born in a poor mixed black area of Johannesburg, George Lai Thom is ethnically Chinese. Racially classified as coloured, he experienced the full impact of apartheid racism. He went into exile in 1968, moved to Canada in 1971 and joined the African National Congress while resident in Vancouver, B.C. He received a certificate in conflict resolution at the Justice Institute Centre for Conflict Resolution in New Westminster, B.C. and returned to South Africa in 1997 to contribute in the transformation of the country, following the first democratic election in 1994.
Since his return George Lai Thom has been the director of a conflict resolution non-governmental organisation called West Rand Justice Centre. The observations and conclusions reached herein are a result of his practice in South Africa over the past five years.
Full Text: CFRJ Database: http://www.sfu.ca/cfrj/fulltext/thom.pdf
(requires Adobe Acrobat).

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APA Style
Lai Thom, George.  (2003).  Restorative Justice and Transformation Under Fire in Soweto, South Africa.  6th International Conference on Restorative Justice.  Retrieved from http://www.sfu.ca/cfrj/fulltext/thom.pdf

MLA Style
Lai Thom, George.  "Restorative Justice and Transformation Under Fire in Soweto, South Africa."  6th International Conference on Restorative Justice 1 June 2003.  ‹http://www.sfu.ca/cfrj/fulltext/thom.pdf›.

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