Community Conferencing/Circles is an alternative to the traditional criminal court system for eligible non-violent cases.  Community  Circles use  structure to create a respectful space... participants speak from the heart in a shared search for understanding of the event and to identify the steps necessary to assist in healing all affected parties and prevent future occurrences. 

Community Conferencing relies upon the principles of restorative justice including: 

• Answering the needs of the victim and community members affected by the crime 
  
• Giving victims and community members a say in how the harm should be repaired 
  
• Holding offenders personally accountable to the victim of an offense 
  

The community conferencing program is an opportunity for both victims and the community to speak directly to an offender in order to express their collective concern and to hold the offender directly accountable for the harm created. The conference focuses on three stages: 

• Discussing what happened 
  
• Discussing the impact on the three stakeholders (Victim, Offender, Community) 
  
• Determining how to repair the harm 
  

Along with a trained facilitator; victims, offenders, and community members come up with a written agreement of how the harm, can be repaired.



Circles :   Monthly    Bi-monthly

Fees:  $25 per person or $100 per Circle Conference

Who For:
Adults
Juveniles
Families   
Organizations 

Contact: cfrj@rushmore.com
605.348.3665
FAX:  605.718.8964