Restorative Discovery Items

'The Justice Reform Initiative is an alliance of people who share long-standing professional experience, lived experience and/or expert knowledge of the justice system, who are further supported by a movement of Australians of goodwill from across the country and across the political spectrum.

We believe jailing is failing and that there is an urgent need to reduce the number of people in Australian prisons. We believe that the over-use of prisons is fundamentally harmful to those in prison, their family and friends, and the broader community.

We believe that prisons are ineffective as a deterrent, ineffective at reducing crime, and ineffective at addressing the drivers of criminal justice system involvement.

We believe that the over-use of incarceration is a waste of human potential and a misuse of taxpayer dollars.

The evidence shows that the majority of people entering prison usually arrive there because of an underpinning cycle of disadvantage and that prison both exacerbates and entrenches a broader cycle of disadvantage, which needs to be broken.

We believe the moment has come for change, with a combination of political, economic and social forces coalescing to create an opportunity to genuinely challenge and respond to our overreliance on incarceration – and offer up an alternative vision.'

'Schools need to be transformed into communities where everyone belongs, where differences are accepted and membership is unconditional. Schools can and should be places that all students can love. Making this change will require educators to think differently about student behavior and reflect on how they respond to it.

Real discipline should be more than deciding what consequences to use with students; it should always be about learning. So when students break the rules or have trouble, educators need to ask, "How can we help them learn what they need to learn, and how can we meet their needs?" The answers to those questions should shape both our discipline practices and the type of school that we provide for our children.'

'While I can talk about restorative justice from the framework of Scripture and theology, this week I will rely on experts in the field. Teachers and practitioners Elaine Enns and Ched Myers define restorative justice and peacemaking as

“a range of nonviolent responses to injustice, violation, and/or violence with the aim of reducing or halting the presenting violence in order that victims and offenders (as well as their communities and other stakeholders) can collectively identify harms, needs, and responsibilities so that they can determine how to make things as right as possible, which can include covenants of accountability, restitution, reparations and (ideally) reconciliation.”'

'Envisioning Queer Justice Collaborative

JUST RELEASED! After six community peacebuilding circles across the state of Minnesota (prior to the pandemic), over 100 pages of transcripts, and receiving input from those in the Queer community, Envisioning Queer Justice Collaborative is so excited to release the findings from our LGBTQ+ youth justice circles.
To learn about how some Queer youth in Minnesota define safety, distinguish punishment and accountability, and envision justice, read the full report here: '

'Connecting individuals building restorative communities on campuses around the world.

Restorative universities care about community. That means respectful relationships come first. We work to build these respectful communities in our student body, residence halls, faculty and staff.'

'A global eConference for Restorative Justice advocates, practitioners and academics. Your ticket gets you full onine access.

Over 100 presenters from 23 countries!

Share and learn about applying restorative justice to: Criminal Justice / Youth Justice / Prisons Legal and Judicial / Environmental Justice / Victim support / Schools / Faith / Academic / Hate Crime / Extremism / Literature / Sexual Violence / Creative Arts / Training /'

'Two of our speakers examine the progress in restorative cities.

Grazia Mannozzi is professor of “Criminal Law” and of “Restorative Justice and Victim-offender Mediation” at the University of Insubria (Como – Italy).

Chris Straker is co-founder of the Hull Centre for Restorative Practice in 2007. During his leadership there, The Hull Centre became known nationally as ‘progressive’ in restorative practice and its application across agencies working with families and young people.'

'The Psychology of Emotion in Restorative Practice How Affect Script Psychology Explains How and Why Restorative Practice Works Edited by Vernon Kelly and Margaret Thorsborne How and why does restorative practice (RP) work? This book presents the biological theory, affect script psychology (ASP), behind RP, and shows how it works in practice in different settings. "This is a splendid contribution to clarifying what we know and what we do not yet understand about what makes restorative justice fail or succeed. While much research and reflective practice remains to be done to fill great voids in our understanding, this book takes big steps forward. It is at once theoretically sophisticated and practically useful." – John Braithwaite, Distinguished Professor, Australian National University

'Adam Voigt has been teaching and leading schools in some of Australia’s most challenging locations for more than twenty-five years.

He has a history of transforming student lives and teacher practice by fostering school cultures that are strong, relational and hallmarked by stakeholder trust.'

'Restorative practices are rooted in restorative justice. They emphasize repairing the harm done to people and relationships, rather than punishing people.

By building more supportive learning environments and focusing on social-emotional learning, restorative practices can:

reduce social barriers to learning, engage more students, create a context for understanding and valuing diversity, nurture a sense of belonging, promote positive mental health'

A set of strategies that can transform learning environments and help school staff respond more effectively to unacceptable behaviour.

'Through the mechanism of the ACT Restorative Justice Network, we aim to build Canberra as a restorative community through growing and widening the circle of people who are interested in connecting, sharing and promoting their experiences and knowledge of restorative justice approaches. Our goal is to expand restorative justice principles and practice across the Canberra community.'

This initiative aims to transform Newcastle into a restorative city by building social cohesion and healthy communities.

Newcastle has pockets of disadvantage in relation to unemployment, income, education, housing, child welfare, and criminal justice.

'We are in the midst of a pandemic and global awakening around systemic racial injustice. When school resumes, educators will need the space to be able to process what has transpired and hold similar space for their students. The goal of this webinar is to provide primary and secondary educators with tips for implementing trauma-sensitive SEL (Social Emotional Learning) curriculum for students immediately upon their return. We will model the use of online restorative circles from our Reentry through Resilience curriculum as a way to provide space virtually for educators and students. Sat, July 25, 2020'

Discovering Restorative’s True Potential - Free Webinar Terry O'Connell, Kerrie Sellen and Paulo Moratelli are offering a FREE webinar to talk about how Restorative Practice can be used to significantly improve your practice. We are experienced restorative practitioners who over many years have learned how to use ‘restorative’ as a relational foundation for everything we do, both in our personal and professional lives. Simply, we want to challenge you to reflect on your own practice, identify what Works, then discover the difference restorative practice can make in strengthening your practice by making it more explicit, intentional, consistent and impactful. We will provide an insight into how our explicit restorative practice framework has provided a clear practice rationale that emphasises the importance of understanding the ‘why’ of what we do. We will also share how our values, beliefs and working assumptions influence and shape our practice. We will draw on case studies to show how explicit restorative practice has the potential to build relational capacity in almost an situation, example such as: one-on-one interactions, dealing with complex and traumatic matters through to developing a more humane organisational culture in schools and workplaces. Terry O’Connell is a restorative pioneer, best known as the ‘cop from Wagga Wagga’ who in 1991 developed the restorative conference script used by the IIRP. Over the past thirty years his work has continued to evolve and has had considerable influence in a variety of setting including policing, schools, corrections, workplaces and community agencies across the world. Kerrie Sellen is an experienced youth worker whose innovative restorative work led to the establishment of arguably the world’s first fully restorative organisation Re-Engage Youth Services in 2009. This award-winning organisation was known for how it integrated restorative practice in everything with leadership and staff but importantly with young people and their families. Kerrie now runs Restorative Journeys and provides mentor, coaching and training support for a wide and diverse range of organisations and practitioners throughout Australia. Paulo Moratelli is a brazilian Psychologist, Executive Director of Coonozco / Diálogos Transformativos, lecturer and independent instructor of Restorative Justice, Transformative Dialogues and Transformative Circles (a method he developed), and Peacemaking Circles. He is Delegate for Brazil of the Sociedad Científica de Justicia Restaurativa (Spain), and Member of the Global Advisory Council of Restorative Justice International (USA).

'Share and learn about applying restorative justice to: Criminal Justice / Youth Justice / Prisons Legal and Judicial / Environmental Justice / Victim support / Schools / Faith / Academic / Hate Crime / Extremism / Literature / Sexual Violence / Creative Arts / Training www.rjworld2020.com'

'Myth 3: Restorative justice requires forgiveness and becoming friends with the offender. Fact: The victim in a restorative program is not under any pressure or compulsion to forgive or reconcile with the offender. RJ simple engineers the process that helps the victim get answers to their toughest questions'

'Restorative practices, and relationship management more broadly, can be part of broader exercise of consciously redesigning for a more conflict resilient workplace. Again, this approach is based on foundational principles of: causing no further harm, working with those involved, and seeking to set relations right. A “restorative” approach asks a different set of questions.'

'Some advocate for training SROs to be more restorative; however, SROs have shown that training on how to interact with students as mentors does not change their racist policing behaviors. Before Minneapolis Public Schools terminated their contract with the MPD, they had been unsuccessfully trying to transform the role of their SROs from “enforcer” to “mentor” and still police officers were disproportionately “interacted with” black students. (Minneapolis Star Tribune) In 2016, the Police Accountability Task Force released a report that found systemic and institutionalized racism in all areas of the Chicago Police Department. The task force concluded that “CPD’s own data and other information strongly suggests that CPD’s response to the violence is not sufficiently imbued with Constitutional policing tactics and is also comparatively void of actual procedural and restorative justice in the day-to-day encounters between the police and citizens.”'

'A restorative justice approach works to repair harm and strengthen communities where wrong has occurred. It seeks to meet the needs of those harmed, while also considering the causes of the wrongful behavior in order to promote accountability and growth for the one who caused harm. This highly experiential workshop utilizes a trauma-informed approach, and provides frameworks for identifying and responding to the needs of all those who were impacted by the wrong. Participants will be trained in the philosophy of restorative justice and will learn the foundational skills for facilitating encounters that lead to restorative outcomes.'

'IIRP Continuing Education brings together leading research, theory and practice. We offer a growing array of online professional development events to teach you concepts and soft skills needed to stand out in your professional environment. Our experienced instructors are skilled practitioners, adept at helping you learn and implement restorative practices in your setting. For more than 10 years, the IIRP Graduate School has pioneered master's-level online learning in the social science of relationships and community. Our faculty bring their wealth of knowledge to support the design and structure of our online offerings.'

'The Restorative Research, Innovation and Education Lab (RRIELab), described by the school as the first ever international lab to concentrate on restorative justice, is located at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law. Dalhousie University, supported by the Donald R. Sobey Foundation, established the lab to transform the justice system and to safeguard the health, safety and well-being of individuals and communities across Canada through a restorative approach, said the school’s announcement. The lab also aims to deal with institutional abuses and failures and to advance the development of restorative cities worldwide, the announcement states.'

'Dalhousie University is officially launching the first ever international lab focused on restorative justice, with the support of the Donald R. Sobey Foundation. The Restorative Research, Innovation & Education Lab (RRIELab), located in the Schulich School of Law, will be led by a fully funded chair held by Professor Jennifer Llewelyn, a distinguished global leader in restorative justice. The lab’s vision is to be a global centre of excellence that will accelerate the growth and development of a restorative approach to protect the health, safety and well-being of individuals and communities in Canada. The initial focus of the RRIELab will be on accelerating the growth and development of restorative justice as a key component to transform the justice system in Canada, as well as supporting the development of restorative cities around the world and responding to institutional abuses and failures.'

'Dalhousie University is officially launching the first ever international lab focused on restorative justice, with the support of the Donald R. Sobey Foundation. The Restorative Research, Innovation & Education Lab (RRIELab), located in the Schulich School of Law, will be led by a fully funded chair held by Professor Jennifer Llewelyn, a distinguished global leader in restorative justice. The lab’s vision is to be a global centre of excellence that will accelerate the growth and development of a restorative approach to protect the health, safety and well-being of individuals and communities in Canada. The initial focus of the RRIELab will be on accelerating the growth and development of restorative justice as a key component to transform the justice system in Canada, as well as supporting the development of restorative cities around the world and responding to institutional abuses and failures.'