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of restorative justice called sentencing circles in hopes it will make community members more accountable to each other and reduce the number of people who commit more crimes.
• Sentencing circles provide an alternative to prison, with a group discussing the case and recommending a punishment that tailored to the offender. The circle can include prosecutors, police, the offender, victims, relatives of the offender and victims and anyone else in the community who has a stake in the situation.
• The Oglala Sioux tribe currently has one sentencing circle in operation, and the tribe's attorney general said she hopes the method could be extended to all cases.
• "It has a more healing affect because you're mending broken relationships and broken people," Attorney General Rae Ann Red Owl told The Associated Press. "I think if you compare that with a penal system, you're locking them up, you may or

may not see the light from the incarceration. A lot of times, those in the penal system, it's such a different culture of its own, and it's based on a kind of survival mentality so you don't really know what you're going to get when you're done."
• Red Owl declined to provide details on the case being handled by the sentencing circle but said it originated in Family and Child Court, which handles custody issues, juvenile crimes and child abuse cases. The tribe has been working with the Rapid

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