Restorative Practice Resources Tagged With: Restorative Justice

'Restorative justice brings together people who have committed a crime and the people that crime has affected in a conversation about the event. This can give a voice to the people involved and create a resolution and sense of peace between the victims and offenders of these crimes The team from Open Circle, a new restorative justice service at RMIT’s Centre for Innovative Justice, will engage in a discussion about restorative justice, how it approaches the work and some case studies which demonstrate how valuable the process can be to parties impacted by a crime or other harm.'

Restorative justice brings together people who have committed a crime and the people that crime has affected in a conversation about the event. This can give a voice to the people involved and create a resolution and sense of peace between the victims and offenders of these crimes

'Depopulate prisons now, but then use the opportunity to think about how we can build a more effective, humane, rehabilitative system of “punishment,” one which is more healing to offenders AND to victims. "Just one single case of Covid-19 in a prison is akin to throwing a torch at the problem. The illness will, already has, spread like wildfire, endangering inmates and staff alike." But how do we transform a beast that has been integrated into our notion of justice for centuries? The good news is that, with or without Covid-19, there has always been an alternative to jails.'

'As many of us gather virtually during this time of COVID-19, we feel a need to talk about what is happening and how we’re being affected. The impact has to do with those who become sick, obviously. The rest of us who are settling in place in our homes and maintaining physical distance are also dramatically affected. Early in the crisis, a teacher asked, “I’m out of school; all my students are at home. What’s a good circle prompt to do at this time?”'

'Unaddressed childhood trauma changes how we respond to the world and when triggered, we make choices that sometimes have devastating consequences including domestic violence, addiction, murder and prison. I, too, would have been incarcerated had I not had the privilege and support system I lucked into. Let's shift the paradigm of how we incarcerate, isolate and dehumanize the most traumatized members of our society.'

'Unaddressed childhood trauma changes how we respond to the world and when triggered, we make choices that sometimes have devastating consequences including domestic violence, addiction, murder and prison. I, too, would have been incarcerated had I not had the privilege and support system I lucked into. Let's shift the paradigm of how we incarcerate, isolate and dehumanize the most traumatized members of our society.'

'A mediator, facilitator, and trainer in private practice, Susan Sharpe wrote this book on behalf of the Edmonton Victim Offender Mediation Society, now the Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre. The purpose for the book is to help communities establish and sustain sound restorative justice practices and programs.'

'Jessica Rourke, an expert in conflict, says empathizing with someone is the first step to avoiding conflict in a touchy situation. Rourke has a doctorate in social psychology and teaches a class on interpersonal communication at the University of Victoria, along with facilitating restorative justice dialogues between victims and offenders of crime — all areas that touch on dealing with conflict.'

'We spend over thirteen billion dollars a year on this system in the name of public safety. In this time of pandemic, where our hospitals lack respirators, masks, and intensive care beds, the cost of our failure to create a criminal justice system focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment will be borne by the most vulnerable, both inside and outside of prison.'

'My kids’ primary school once tried to get students to practice restorative justice by telling them to ‘practice restorative justice’. Yup, that’s what they said. To five-to-12 year olds. Parents were baffled too. Only the teachers who had done a two-day workshop knew what the heck it meant. The restorative justice process itself was okay. Calling it that was the ineffective bit. Likewise, the problem with ‘practicing social distancing’ isn’t the process. It’s the language.'

' Van Buren’s most ambitious undertaking so far is the reimagining of a hulking 471,000 square foot Detention Center in downtown Atlanta. [...] Van Buren has been working with social justice organizations and a mayoral task force to transform the site into an “Equity Center” that will incorporate financial literacy, job training, access to legal services and other community needs. — The New York Times '

'Labor spokesperson for youth affairs Josh Willie said they did not support closing the centre but does support a change in approach. "It's not Labor policy to close Ashley but it is time for Tasmania to have a conversation about its approach to youth detention," he said. "It takes a huge proportion of the youth justice budget and there needs to be more of a focus on therapeutic and restorative justice."'

'A panel of advocates and scholars discuss what restorative justice looks like and how it could potentially provide alternatives to the current criminal justice system. The panel featured Liz Porter-Merrill, restorative justice director for the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender; Mikayla Waters-Crittenton, executive assistant/program associate at Restorative Justice Project; and Shannon Sliva, assistant professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. Professor Josh Bowers acted as moderator. This panel was part of the 2020 Shaping Justice conference, sponsored by UVA Law’s Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center and Program in Law and Public Service; the Public Interest Law Association; and numerous other student organizations. (University of Virginia School of Law, Feb. 7, 2020)'

'Another turning point came during Brown’s final semester toward his bachelor’s degree, when he took a course in restorative justice. He said it opened his eyes to how destructive the criminal justice process is, and how powerful it could be to change the narrative that emerges from that process. By asking questions about who has been harmed, who did the harm, and what is needed by all the affected people, restorative justice forces people to listen to stories that the criminal justice system shields them from.'

From WhyMeUK 'After her ex-partner tried to kill her Janika wanted to face him again to hold him accountable for his actions and gain a sense of closure from the incident. The Restorative Justice meeting between them transformed her recovery and changed her life.'

'The majority of victims of crime who go through Restorative Justice find the process beneficial. Many people want to ask questions about the crime. Many want to tell the person responsible what the consequences of their actions were. Many want to ensure that they doesn’t offend again. There are a multitude of benefits that can arise for people affected by crime who go through Restorative Justice.'