Want an update on EMU Professor Emeritus Howard Zehr? UChicago Magazine has published a profile “Rooted in Justice” on Zehr, who earned his master’s in history there in 1976. The article traces Zehr’s career and corresponding interactions with and personal philosophy of restorative justice.
Zehr has been called “the grandfather of restorative justice” and is proud of the label, but quick to qualify it. The idea of accountability through conversation has deep roots: many Indigenous groups around the world have for centuries used community dialogue to resolve conflict. Zehr sees himself not as an inventor of restorative justice but rather as a communicator on its behalf.
And there’s other interesting details about what Zehr is up to:
Zehr has always loved photography and found ways to incorporate it into his work; his books Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences (Good Books, 1996) and Still Doing Life: 22 Lifers, 25 Years Later (The New Press, 2022) feature portraits of prisoners serving life sentences. Now he’s begun doing volunteer work as a hospice photographer. He’s still writing—mostly technical articles for ham radio operators, a welcome return to his childhood hobby.