The threat of punishment may deter crime, but when it doesn't, a new model called Restorative Justice works instead to create healing after the fact.

 There is extensive background information on the basic concepts at the Restorative Resources website,  including an outline of their restorative conference process.  One important outcome of these conferences, says Clifford Amos, can be an opening of awareness and even sensitivity in kids who often have had very little prior experience with such feelings.

The community circle model that is widely used in restorative justice has its roots in various native cultures around the world, Clifford explains, but New Zealand was the first western culture to seriously attempt to integrate that concept.

 Clifford Amos and Restorative Resources will be awarded the 2009 Sonoma County Peacebuilder Award by the local chapter of the Peace Alliance/Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace. The presentation will be made at"Creating aWorld Beyond Violence," a wine, cheese and chocolate reception to be held Saturday, June , 2-4 pm at the Power Squadron, 789 Hamilton Parkway in Novato.  Reservations and information at (707) 992-0367, evenings or Saturday morning.

There's more to the story of pirates along the Somali coast than just bad guys in boats. In today's report, John Reid, President of the Conservation Strategy Fund in Sebastopol, looks past recent headlines to the root causes of this outbreak of nautical lawlessness.

Because natural resources are essential to the survival of millions of residents of undeveloped nations, CFS President John Reid (right) predicts that, in order to help preserve them, climate change will soon become a major factor in shaping US foreign policy.

 Michael Winship, senior writer for the weekly PBS public affairs program "Bill Moyers Journal," has additional background on this issue here.

KRCB's North Bay Report has won an Excellence in Media award from the California Teachers Association, for a report last April on peer-driven non-violence training for junior high school students. Today we reprise that award-winning report.

Rick Phillips (left) is the creator and leading advocate for the Safe School Ambassadors program, which is a project of the Sebastopol-based non-profit, Community Matters.

This story, which originally aired last April, has been honored with a 2009 John Swett Award for Excellence in Media by the California Teachers Association.

The 6^th annual "Real Heroes" of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties are being honored this week by the local Red Cross office. In this report we meet two of them.

His Bar Mitzvah is successfully completed, but Gabe Ferreck is not stopping his work on behalf of the displaced children of Darfur. Here he is pictured with the tabletop display he created for the  JWW Backback Project. In the audio clip below, Here he describes his next project for them, the Walk for Darfur.

How does a helicopter airlift rescue unfold? Pilot Paul Bradley (right)  gives a step-by-step account of the episode for which he was honored by the Red Cross this year.

Two of this year's other Red Cross Real Hero honorees are being recognized for actions that were truly a family affair.

 Through their Project Africa program, Food for Thought, the Sonoma County AIDS Food Bank, is now a sponsor of Hope Initiatives' soup kitchen and other projects in Namibia, including their new vegetable garden. 

It's not easy to measure progress in the medical effort to rein in HIV in Namibia, but Mark and Paula Nethedra  say some encouraging trends are beginning to emerge.

Click here to read about all of this year's Real Heroes.