ABSTRACT
Peacemaking is the art and science of transforming violent relations into safe, trustworthy, mutually respectful, balanced relations. It is different from conventional criminology in two respects: First, peacemaking postulates that violence, even violence committed to stop other violence--as in policing, criminal justice, and wars on crime--breeds more violence. Second, criminology and criminal justice are focused on what not to do and how to stop people from relating to others in certain ways. This chapter summarizes the basic elements and recent directions of that theory. It is only as people keep shifting their priorities and objects of attention to accommodate the ever-changing situation of those with whom they interact that power plays turn into the give-and-take of power sharing, which was originally called "responsiveness" and "democratization" and now call "peacemaking" as well. Empathy fuels and in turn is fed by the peacemaking process.
