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Monthly Archives: July 2015

New Vision for City: Harrisonburg goes for restorative ways

If one particular young man in Harrisonburg had stolen from his employer a few months earlier, he might have found himself standing before a judge, facing a possible jail sentence. Thanks to a new restorative justice program with the Harrisonburg Police Department (HPD), however, this young thief instead found himself facing his employer to talk […]

Gathering Steam: Restorative justice in education

Three years ago, Danny Malec, MA ’05 (conflict transformation), was hired to help E.L. Haynes High School in Washington D.C. break free from the disciplinary rut of suspensions and expulsions that plague so many American schools. Now the school’s assistant principal for restorative practices, Malec and his colleagues have begun using techniques such as restorative […]

Just Outcomes, LLP: Recentering justice on relationships

The headlines have faded, but the years have not dulled her grief. Now the young mother sits eye-to-eye with the driver who caused the death of her school-aged child. Their conversation doesn’t focus on forgiveness or serve to expedite some criminal process. Instead, it creates a space for two human beings to express lingering emotions […]

Howard Zehr: Pioneer of restorative justice

Howard Zehr – writer, editor, speaker, educator, photographer, mentor – has made an indelible mark on the Eastern Mennonite University community and the theory and practice of justice worldwide. From his early work with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to the publishing of Changing Lenses to his work as an educator at the Center for Justice […]

Jeremiah Zook: Upholding the Law

When facing a difficult decision from the bench, Jeremiah Zook ’97 reminds himself that the voters of Pennsylvania’s 39th Judicial District elected him to make difficult decisions on matters that find their way into his Court of Common Pleas. He reminds himself of his responsibility to protect the peace and security of Franklin and Fulton […]

Campus Assets: Two lawyers opt to work for peace

J. Daryl Byler ’79 and Lindsay Martin ’05 both have law degrees, are certified to practice law in states other than Virginia, and instead work for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Experiences with Mennonite service in early adulthood instilled in them a deep-seated commitment to advocate for others and promote nonviolence and community development. […]

Protecting the Environment: Two lawyers have personal reasons for caring

On a conservative Mennonite farm in Pennsylvania, Lorraine Stoltzfus ’77 grew up watching her father protect his land from soil erosion through contour farming. Almost 20 years later, when Stoltzfus had finished her time at Eastern Mennonite University and was in law school at the University of Wisconsin, Olga Kolotushkina ’95 was spending her summers […]

From Lawlessness in Libya to CJP Studies

In Benghazi, residents have become used to falling asleep to the sound of bombs playing their deadly lullaby. This is the daily reality Najla Mangoush’s mother describes to her from the family’s home in Libya. And it is the reality Mangoush will face as she considers bringing her two school-aged daughters back to Libya when […]

Representing the ‘Least of These’

No matter who you are, navigating the American legal system can be daunting. If you’re a poor, undocumented immigrant, it can be a lot worse than that. “This is a seriously marginalized group in the United States…. It’s very easy in the system for the rights of an indigent, unrepresented, undocumented immigrant to be completely […]

Helping Vulnerable Kenyans Via Local Law

Recent issues of the Wajir Times, which covers the third-largest county in the northeast of Kenya, chronicle clan warfare, banditry, scarcity of water and land, concerns over attacks by Al Shabab, and civil unrest. Naema “Nimo” Somo, 28, practices law in the county government and works to build peace in her birthplace – a fractious, […]