{"id":2866,"date":"2015-07-20T14:08:23","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T18:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=2866"},"modified":"2016-12-22T11:39:51","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T16:39:51","slug":"just-outcomes-llp-recentering-justice-on-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2015\/07\/20\/just-outcomes-llp-recentering-justice-on-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Outcomes, LLP: Recentering justice on relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Matthew<\/a>

Matthew Hartman, Aaron Lyons and Catherine Bargen \u2013 all 2008 master’s graduates of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding \u2013 are the principals in Just Outcomes LLP, based in British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Michael Sheeler)<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2019t focus on forgiveness or serve to expedite some criminal process. Instead, it creates a space for two human beings to express lingering emotions and somehow heal.<\/p>\n

And, surprisingly, it was the driver who requested the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first time the mother felt she had her voice heard meaningfully,\u201d says Aaron Lyons<\/strong>, who facilitates victim-offender dialogues in his role as restorative justice facilitator for Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives near Vancouver, Canada. \u201cIt was no longer about who took her daughter\u2019s life; it was simply about her healing journey. The process was also therapeutic for the woman driver serving a prison sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the two women, that meeting brought healing and movement toward a sense of \u201cjustice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of violence or harm, the human heart cries out for a just response. Yet that can mean different things to different people depending on their circumstance and culture. Guiding others to explore and discover their personal definition of \u201cjustice\u201d lies at the core of a new venture launched by Lyons, Catherine Bargen<\/strong> and Matthew Hartman<\/strong>, all 2008 master\u2019s graduates of EMU\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.<\/p>\n

Their firm, Just Outcomes, LLP, (justoutcomesconsulting.com<\/a>), helps communities and organizations develop just responses to harmful actions or situations. Defining those responses starts with determining what justice looks like for the people involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to invite people to think creatively about justice issues in their personal relationships, their workplace and their communities,\u201d says Bargen, who also works as restorative justice coordinator for British Columbia\u2019s Ministry of Justice. \u201cOur passion is to use processes and create systems that help support relationships for good outcomes rather than limiting justice to the criminal justice arena.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting one-on-one<\/h3>\n

For example, when a falling-out between two 14-year-old girls at a Langley, British Columbia, middle school led to alienation of one girl and divisions in their social group, Bargen and a restorative justice team went to work. They met with each girl and discovered that both wanted a chance to talk about the harm done. So Bargen facilitated a meeting with the girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first it was very tense,\u201d she says. \u201cThey started out accusing each other, but eventually we reached a place where they were able to remind one another of their initial friendship, and they admitted that they missed each other. They were able to repair their relationship and walked out of the room arm-in-arm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years later, Bargen wrote a reference letter for one of the girls, who felt inspired to become a youth mediator and to pursue a teaching career as a result of the restorative experience. \u201cThese processes can be extremely powerful,\u201d Bargen says.<\/p>\n

The idea for Just Outcomes emerged while the three friends pursued their master\u2019s in conflict transformation at CJP. United by a passion for justice issues, they embraced a vision inspired by their mentor, Howard Zehr<\/strong>, who encouraged a collaborative approach to justice that focuses on people\u2019s needs in the aftermath of a harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoward\u2019s influence was quite profound on all three of us,\u201d says Lyons. \u201cHe envisioned a time when we would no longer talk about justice by qualifying it with adjectives like \u2018restorative,\u2019 but instead simply do<\/em> justice and that it would be restorative in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six years passed as the three CJP alumni went on to fruitful careers, while slowly refining their vision for Just Outcomes through a process they dub \u201ca slow boil.\u201d They held monthly Skype calls, mostly to chat about their work and maintain their ever-deepening friendship, but also to take small steps forward on their dream. Finally, in 2014, they felt ready to balance a consulting firm alongside their individual careers.<\/p>\n

Their combined skills, knowledge and experience enable Just Outcomes to tackle justice issues in almost any group.<\/p>\n

Bringing rich experiences<\/h3>\n

Bargen has worked with youth in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with First Nations members in culturally responsive crime prevention, and with students and staff in school-based mediation programs. Lyons\u2019 background includes youth justice work in New Zealand, victim-offender mediation, intercultural peacebuilding, and the development and implementation of training programs. Hartman has implemented restorative justice practices and programs within the juvenile justice system, facilitated victim-offender dialogues, and helped communities strengthen their capacity to respond to juvenile crime.<\/p>\n

The three are also armed with the confidence that comes from witnessing the positive results produced through a collaborative, respectful approach.<\/p>\n

In Hartman\u2019s work as restorative justice coordinator for the Clackamas County Juvenile Department in Oregon City, Oregon, he has seen firsthand how restorative principles and values can transform justice systems. Traditionally, many criminal justice systems contact victims of juvenile crime with a focus on information gathering and advising victims of their legal rights, rather than considering victims\u2019 needs. However, today through the Clackamas County department\u2019s Victims Impact Program, victims are contacted by a coordinator who acknowledges the harm done, expresses empathy and focuses on providing support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe formed the whole program around the needs we know many victims have after they\u2019ve been harmed \u2013 information, acknowledgement, a need to have a voice, and the need to have a part in determining the outcome of the case,\u201d Hartman explains.<\/p>\n

The juvenile department also started a phone outreach to crime victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that phone call, we don\u2019t start out with \u2018Here\u2019s what you need to know.\u2019 We start with \u2018How are you doing?\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cWe still provide information about their rights and all the legal stuff that\u2019s necessary, but we start on a relational basis, which is informed by a restorative justice framework.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the variety and the necessity of justice work, Bargen, Hartman and Lyons feel inspired by the promise of healthy, human interactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen those who have caused harm and those who have been harmed come together, and you see their resilience and their capacity for empathy in situations that seem unthinkable, you realize it\u2019s an honor to witness and support people in such a transformative engagement,\u201d says Hartman. \u201cAs a society, we\u2019re recognizing that the old way of doing things isn\u2019t meeting our needs. So we\u2019re excited to explore what other systems and ways of being may be more meaningful for people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t focus on forgiveness or serve to expedite some criminal process. Instead, it creates a space for two human beings to express lingering emotions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":2867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,586],"tags":[633,634,739,733,635,746],"class_list":["post-2866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-springsummer-2015","tag-aaron-lyons","tag-catherine-bargen","tag-conflict-resolution","tag-justice-and-peacebuilding","tag-matthew-hartman","tag-victims-impact-program","issues-springsummer-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2866"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2940,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions\/2940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}