Tribe: Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota - White Earth Band
Chapter 12A Peacemaking Circle.
Sec. 12-A-1 Application Process
1. A guilty plea shall be entered by offender and accepted by the
Tribal Court judge.
2. A referral from the Tribal Court will be made to the juvenile
counselor. The offender will be contacted by the juvenile counselor
with application materials. However, the offender will have the
privilege to choose not to participate in the program at the time of
the application process. If the offender chooses not to participate in
the peacemaking circle, the offense will be heard before the tribal
court pursuant to the adjudicatory process.
3. The offender has seven (7) working days to file application with the
juvenile counselor.
4. The juvenile counselor shall contact community members,
peacemaking process committee, and the offender within seven (7)
working days to schedule an interview circle. If the victim indicates
an interest in participating, he/she will be notified.
5. During the interview, circle members will settle on one of two
outcomes:
A. Accept: Peacemaking circle members agree to work with
the offender in the circle process. The offender and circle
members create a social compact. The Circle may begin
regular meetings with the offender.
B. Reject: Peacemaking circle members decide not to work
with the offender in circle process at the current moment.
The reasons for rejection are reviewed and offender is told
what criteria he or she must meet to reapply. The offender
will return to tribal court for sentencing/disposition by judge if
he or she chooses not to reapply.
Sec. 12-A-2 Schedule
1. The Peacemaking Circle shall be scheduled to occur within seven
(7) working days. If the juvenile counselor, judge, attorney,
offenders, or victim are unable to calendar a scheduled date, the
peacemaking circle will be rescheduled. Those members who
would like to attend but are unable to attend the scheduled date
may choose to give input in one or more following ways:
a. Provide their input to the peacemaking circle in writing.
b. Send another person to represent their input to the
peacemaking circle.
c. Request that the juvenile counselor or a peacemaking
circle member to represent their input at circle.
Sec. 3-12-A-3 Sentence Agreement
1. Attendance of all key members of the circle should be in
attendance during the sentencing agreement.
2. During the peacemaking circle, a group consensus is reached. A
sentencing circle agreement is adopted by peacemaking circle.
3. The sentence agreement is presented to the judge for approval.
4. The following information will be provided to the judge before
acceptance of the sentence agreement.
a. The Sentence Agreement
b. The number of peacemaking circle meetings
c. The number of hours spent meeting
d. The number of community members involved in case.