Restorative Practice Resources Tagged With: USA

'Melissa Ugarte is an expert in Restorative Practices—I had been using the term “restorative justice” and she rightly reminded me that Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices are often used interchangeably but are actually quite different. Restorative Justice takes place in the criminal justice system in response to a crime. Restorative Practice is used in schools for climate and culture enhancement. The distinction is an important one.'

'Restorative Practices are key to building and maintaining healthy relationships in communities, including your work community. When relationships are prioritized through equal voice and empathy, the capacity of the team to work effectively and creatively grows. In many ways, this finding is intuitive. We all know from experience that when we are part of teams where we feel safe, heard and understood, we are capable of producing our best work. But it is cool that Google’s very extensive study confirmed it!'

'We ultimately pulled our son from the district. I am a career educator and strong believer in public education. But I am a mom first. The school’s handling of my son’s torment and subsequently proposed solutions were unacceptable and there was not a chance I would keep my son in a school where their only way of protecting him was to change his schedule and dismiss him early. The “restorative” circle he sat in, bravely facing his aggressors, only made him a target for more torment. Now, don’t get me wrong. I still believe that restorative justice is a much-needed practice, but I can’t support the way it is being used as a consequence. If and when it’s implemented well, I’m on board. The reality is that theory and practice are very different things. My research of the theory convinced me that I should introduce restorative justice in my school, but my research on the practice in similar schools and districts had changed my mind. '

'The trailer for our movie about the Restorative Circles is ready! We want to give you an insight into our wonderful film about a systemic conflict resolution model, the Restorative Circles. Our vision of this film is that you as a viewer experience the magical moments of discovering common human values. You will learn in our film what it pays to learn from conflicts in this way. (Google translation from German; English sub-titles are on the video)'

'Restorative practices include teachers and staff working more collaboratively with students and encouraging them to express their feelings in different ways and to understand and respect others. A focus is on healing the hurt associated with negative behaviors. Opponents characterize restorative approaches as anti-discipline and claim these approaches don’t hold students sufficiently accountable for their actions. That is not true: Restorative approaches, by definition, provide high levels of accountability. They are emerging as an alternative to zero-tolerance approaches that see students who’ve committed wrongful actions be suspended without hearing about the impacts of their actions — directly from their victims — and without explicitly focusing on repairing the harm done.'

'Restorative Justice, is one aspect of criminal justice reform. Restorative justice is a theory that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. It focuses on mediation and community building to provide a better understanding of how both the victim and offender were truly impacted by the incident. Community advocates of restorative justice can organize a meeting between the victim, offender, and/or other harmed community members to address all of the harms and have each party member decide together how to hold the offender accountable and restore the community again.'

'In Oakland, a pioneering building called Restore Oakland, completed in 2019, approaches a solution to mass incarceration through the progressive philosophies of restorative justice and restorative economics. Restore Oakland is jointly owned by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a restorative justice non-profit, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, an organization working toward better wages and conditions in the restaurant industry. It also provides space for Causa Justa/Just Cause, a tenant advocacy and housing rights organization; La Cocina, an incubator for low-income food entrepreneurs; the nonprofit Restorative Justice for Oakland; and Community Works West, an organization that works with formerly incarcerated individuals and their families.'

'At the 2019 Clio Cloud Conference, host Laurence Colletti is joined by Deanna Van Buren to talk about how architecture-assisted restorative justice can transform people and communities. She talks about her company Designing Justice + Designing Space, what they envision for a healing/peacemaking center, and how specific colors and sound can create calming environments. DJDS’s goal is to build an environment that represents equality and support through their restorative justice, education, and workforce development programs. Deanna Van Buren is co-founder of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, a nonprofit harnessing the power of design and development to transform people and communities.'

'The foundational principles of the transformative justice model “come from indigenous teachings,” which say that “we are interconnected, that everyone has a space and that when harm happens it’s because there is something that needs to be repaired as opposed to something that needs to be extracted from the community,”'

'“Check-ins encourage each person in a meeting to speak to their peers,” Richard says. “One by one, group members respond to a selected question or prompt. Prompts are chosen to elicit who participants are, how they feel or what they think about an almost limitless range of work-related and personal concerns. Leaders use check-ins deliberately to further a group’s development and ultimately, to enable it to perform at the highest level.”'

'Examples of Frequently Conducted Trainings Introduction to Restorative Justice Workshops introduce participants to the principles and practices of restorative justice. Restorative Thinking and Practices supports groups that are incorporating restorative thinking into new or existing programs. Circle Training introduces participants to the principles and practices of restorative circles. Summer Institutes in Restorative Approaches is a course for those involved in education, social services, or the criminal justice system. The program features speakers from active programs around the country and experiential exercises to strengthen participants’ understanding and use of restorative practices in their work situations. Coaching and Support is available from the Training Institute staff for all participants in the Institute’s various programs. '

'Restorative justice is a broad term and is used in this report to capture what the literature describes using a variety of terms, including “restorative practices,” “restorative approaches,” and similar language. The report describes restorative justice as encompassing “a growing social movement to institutionalize non-punitive, relationship-centered approaches for avoiding and addressing harm, responding to violations of legal and human rights, and collaboratively solving problems.”'

'The Restorative Justice Project was first created in 1987 to serve victims and survivors in the aftermath of serious crimes. Through its victim-offender dialogue program the project offers the opportunity for victim survivors, and their relatives, to meet with and have questions answered by the individual who committed a crime against them. RJI is pleased to showcase the excellent work of the Restorative Justice Project under Jonathan Scharrer’s leadership. Law schools should follow the example of the University of Wisconsin Law School and consider creating similar restorative justice projects like this model project. We need more lawyers who understand the great value of restorative justice for victims, offenders and communities. The Restorative Justice Project is an affiliate member of RJI.'

'Her campaign website provides an extensive list of priorities. “As its mission, the U.S. Department of Peace will; hold peace as an organizing principle; promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights; coordinate restorative justice programs; address white supremacy; strengthen nonmilitary means of peacemaking; work to prevent armed conflict; address the epidemic of gun violence; develop new structures of nonviolent dispute resolution; and proactively and systematically promote national and international conflict prevention, mediation, and resolution. In short, we must wage peace.” '

'Our school did its best. We did some of the things necessary for restorative justice: We made space for intentional discourse, asked students to fill out reflection sheets during interventions, and limited suspensions and expulsions. However, our administrators and staff had little to no formal training in how to lead restorative conversations. We didn't have alternative suspension placements and activities, nor did we have the outside partnerships, therapy services, or funding associated with comprehensive and effective restorative justice systems. Students would get away with both minor infractions and more severe misbehavior, which eventually threatened the overall safety of our school. More crucially, the needs of these students were not being met.'