March 2008

On March 1st  Dr. Umbreit will be keynoting a conference on Forgiveness at the University of Oregon School of Law.

Mark will be traveling to Northern Ireland in early March to keynote a conference, provide training,, and  work with colleagues on both sides of the past violent conflict who are committed to adapting  his model of peacebuilding through restorative dialogue to the Northern Ireland context, in their quest for national healing.

February  2008

Professor Mark Umbreit signed his second book contract this year with Springer Publishing in NY, for "Peacebuilding Through Dialogue in the Global Community: A Mindfullness-based Approach."  His earlier book contract with Springer will be co-authored with  Professor Marilyn Peterson Armour at the University of Texas and is entitled "Restorative Justice Dialogue: A Research-based Intervention for Victims, Offenders, and Families."

December 2007

Professor Mark Umbreit  will be arriving in Seoul, South Korea on Dec. 12 to give a keynote address at the first restorative justice conference in South Korea at the Soongsil University..

November 2007

Professor Mark Umbreit's book :The Handbook on Victim Offender Mediation:: An Essential Guide for Practice and Research" has been published in Japanese by Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Mark and Marilyn Peterson-Armour,University of Texas/Austin  have entered into a contract with Springer Publishing for a book entitled "Restorative Justice Dialogue: A Research-based Approach to Working with Victims, Offenders, Families, and Communities."

VICTIMS OF TERRORISM IN EUROPE: DEVELOPING STANDARDS FOR ASSISTANCE In a project sponsored by the European Commission, Professor Mark Umbreit will be meeting with European colleagues in Belgium on November 12-13 to develop standards for providing assistance to victims of terrorism within the European Union. Mark, the Director of the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking in the SSW, is the only American invited to attend this working session.

October 2007

Professor Mark Umbreit presented a paper on "Restorative Justice & Human Rights: Two Social Movements in Need of Far Greater Collaboration" at a recent conference of the Human Rights Initiative at Marquestte University in Milwaukee.

Dr Umbreit  presented  "Victim Offender Dialogue in Violent Cases: A Multi-site Study in the U.S." at a conference in South Africa. It will be published in the upcoming edition of the Acta Juridica Journal.

Dr. Marilyn Peterson Armour at the University of Texas/Austin and Professor Umbreit will have their article "Exploring 'Closure' and the Ultimate Penal Sanction for Survivors of Homicide Victims" published in the upcoming edition of the Marquette University Law Review.

September 2007

Professor Mark Umbreit has been selected by the U.S. Department of State for a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant in Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Catholic University, School of Law, in Piacenza, Italy (near Milan). Mark will spend two weeks in Italy  April 2008 offering seminars on restorative justice and peacemaking to students, practitioners, and policy makers.

Professor Mark Umbreit will be providing training in Naples, Italy, in mid-September, for the Italian Ministry of Justice related to their efforts to introduce national legislation to support victim offender medeiation, as per the requirement of all member states of the European Union. In late September, Mark will be presenting a paper on Restorative Justice and Human Rights at a conference by Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee.

At the request of Minnesotans for Human Rights, Professor Umbreit and the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking will be assisting the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation process, both in West Africa and in the Twin Cities which has the largest Liberian immigrant population (more than 20,000) in the U.S. After many years of severe internal political conflict, violence, and more than 200,000 deaths, Liberia (under the leadership of the first woman president of an African country) is in the process of a TRC, follwing the model of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Two TRC Commissioners from Liberia in West Africa, along with two local Liberian leaders, will be participants in the advanced 6 day training provided by the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking in November, on restorative justice dialogue in severe criminal and political violence. People from 7 other countries and numerous states will also be part of this advanced training.