Ross London, in his recent book, Crime, Punishment and Criminal Justice – From Margins to Mainstream, argues that much of the identity crisis of the RJ field has been caused by the misguided notion of a “paradigm shift” popularized by my colleague Howard Zehr, one of the founding voices in the RJ movement, in his [...]

  I am pleased that my friend and colleague Carl Stauffer has agreed to co-author this blog with me.  Carl has brought new wisdom, insights and energy to our program and will be providing academic leadership in restorative justice now that I’m semi-retired.  I have invited Carl to introduce himself below. – Howard   I [...]

Two new webinars are coming up. The Promise and Challenge of Restorative Justice Practices in Schools School applications are probably the fastest growing area of restorative justice. What are the potential benefits? What are the barriers and challenges to implanting restorative justice practices? What works and what does not? In this webinar, Nancy Riestenberg and [...]

In an earlier blog entry I discussed the importance of metaphor and promised to say more about how this applies to justice. Here, finally, are more thoughts on metaphors and justice. The following points are inspired by James Geary’s book, I Is An Other:  The Secret Life or Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way [...]

Webinar: Does Restorative Justice Need Forgiveness?: A dialogue with Sujatha Baliga On January 5, The New York Times Magazine carried a story about the use of a restorative conference in a murder case in the early stages of the legal process, prior to a plea. The case was also highlighted on theToday Show a few days later. The story was [...]