Evaluation of the Program: Circle Sentencing - Essay Example

From this paper it is clear that a program will be evaluated more often in the beginning as it is important to find out if adjustments need to be made because some part of it is not working correctly. Only through a thorough evaluation can that failure be determined and a solution discovered that will put the program on the right course of action.This study stresses that the concept of Circle Sentencing has been in place in a number of places since it was first instituted in New Zealand and then exported to Australia, Canada and the United States.

The idea is that the local community, particularly as concerns natives such as Indians, native Alaskans, and the native Aborigines of New Zealand and Australia, are brought together when someone has committed a crime but is deemed suitable for restorative services, rather than being incarcerated and lost to the community altogether. The judge in the case and elders of tribes or other ethnic groups, meet together with the offender, thus creating ties between all concerned in how the offender will serve restitution through community services or some other type of applicable punishment.

In many of these cases, the victim of the crime will participate in the Circle, although those victims of rape or other physical abuse, may not be so inclined to attend. In such cases, it is also questionable as to whether the Circle is appropriate for use because it tends to promote power and domination which the victim, particularly females and children, may not be able to garner for themselves.. The judge in the case and elders of tribes or other ethnic groups, meet together with the offender, thus creating ties between all concerned in how the offender will serve restitution through community services or some other type of applicable punishment.

In many of these cases, the victim of the crime will participate in the Circle, although those victims of rape or other physical abuse, may not be so inclined to attend. In such cases, it is also questionable as to whether the Circle is appropriate for use because it tends to promote power and domination which the victim, particularly females and children, may not be able to garner for themselves (Rieger, 2001). It depends heavily on how the Circle is structured and justice applied, along with the cultural application and influences (Potas et al. 2003). The Circle, in essence, acts as a trouble-shooting and problem-solving forum for common issues of alcoholism and drug abuse, for example, with the community helping the offender achieve success by taking care of children, or in other ways, while the offender attends physical rehabilitation to move away from drugs or alcoholism (Tumeth 2011).

The Circle Sentencing is primarily used in ethnic or tribal situations where cultural environments promote the full group as being active in helping one of its members rather than having the offender be removed to face judicial justice by incarceration. The idea of utilizing the Circle Sentencing came into play in 1999 (Rekhari 2006-07), first in Port Adelaide, then 2002 in New South Wales (NSW), because it was evident that the indigenous peoples, most often the Aborigines, were becoming