New Book by James Diamond Explores How Communities Heal After Mass Shootings, Using Indigenous Approaches to Crime and Reconciliation

EAST LANSING, Mich., Nov. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Author, lawyer and expert on Indigenous peoples law James D. Diamond has released a new book, After the Bloodbath: Is Healing Possible in the Wake of Rampage Shootings?, that looks to the roots of Indigenous approaches to crime, identifying an institutional weakness in the Anglo judicial model, and explores adapting Indigenous practices that contribute to healing following mass shootings in the U.S. The book was released through Michigan State University Press and is available online and at bookstores.

As violence in the U.S. becomes more commonplace, the question of how communities reset after unprecedented violence also grows in significance. Featuring a foreword by Robbie and Alissa Parker, parents of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Emilie Parker, After the Bloodbath examines this quandary, producing insights linking rampage shootings and communal responses in the U.S.

Diamond, who was a leading attorney in the community where the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy occurred, focuses on three well-known shootings (Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook) and a fourth that occurred on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. Emerging from the history of Indigenous dispute resolution is a spotlight turned onto restorative justice, a subject no author has discussed to date in the context of mass shootings. Diamond ultimately leads the reader to a positive road forward focusing on insightful steps people can take after a rampage shooting to help their wounded communities heal.

About the Book:

"After the Bloodbath is an important and most timely book on a devastating subject that produces not only hope out of despair but also a new approach to healing for those communities that have experienced the trauma of multiple-victim rampage shootings. James D. Diamond finds this approach in the traditions of American Indian tribal communities and their unique responses to mass shootings in their tight-knit and oftentimes impoverished communities. With sensitivity and insight gained from his unique experiences working as a trusted adviser for grieving families in the aftermath of the Newtown murders, we are shown how an Indigenous vision of restorative justice at work in American Indian communities can help all of us begin the difficult process of healing and forgiveness in even the most tragic situations we might have to confront in our lives." —Robert A. Williams Jr., Regents' Professor, E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law, Faculty Co-chair, Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, University of Arizona.

About the Author:

James D. Diamond has spent more than twenty-five years as a criminal lawyer, with experience both as a state prosecutor and as criminal defense attorney, and he is certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a criminal trial specialist. He is the Dean of Academic Affairs and a member of the faculty at the National Tribal Trial College. He is the former Director of the Tribal Justice Clinic at the James E. Rogers College of Law and Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona. He served as Special Prosecutor to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona. Diamond was a winner of the 1986 American Bar Association Award for Excellence and was the 1992 Mothers Against Drunk Driving "Man of the Year." In 2014 Diamond was awarded a Doctor of Juridical Science degree with an emphasis on Indigenous peoples law and policy from the University of Arizona College of Law.

For more about After the Bloodbath (ISBN: 978-1-61186-331-4), visit: http://msupress.org/books/book/?id=50-1D0-45A1#.XbsTB0VKgb1