Email subscription to blog
We have been using FeedMyInbox to alert readers to new posts, but it has not proven very reliable. We are now switching to Google’s Feedburner. To receive email alerts, click on “E-mail” under “Subscribe” on the right. If you have been getting the alerts from FeedMyInbox, you can can remove that service by unsubscribing when....
Full-spectrum peacemaking
If you want to read about conflict resolution, you have an abundance of choices. Similarly, there is a large and rapidly growing literature on restorative justice, on non-violent activism and on peacemaking in general. Numerous books analyze violence and its roots as well as the dynamics of power and privilege. Few attempt to bring these....
Photography at the healing edge
In previous posts I have discussed ways photography often contributes to “othering” and, conversely, the power it has to bring people together. A new organization, the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers, began as a group of photographers and designers “devoted to peacemaking & breaking down stereotypes by displaying the beauty of cultures around the world.” ....
Restorative justice, mediation and ADR
Restorative justice (RJ) is often associated with mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). I was reminded of this at the Conference of the European Forum for Restorative Justice in Bilbao, Spain, this spring. Victim offender “mediation” was the practice most commonly mentioned and the lines between ADR and restorative justice often seemed unclear. Confusion about....
The jail crisis – an opportunity
Like many communities, my own is facing a crisis in jail capacity resulting in pressures to build a larger institution. I was recently asked to serve on a local symposium panel about this issue but the report in the local paper did not accurately represent my emphasis. So I will lay it out and amplify....
10 steps to resisting personal cooptation
In my previous entry I noted that Philip Zimbardo, in his book The Lucifer Effect, suggests “A Ten-step Program to Resist Unwanted Influences.” Because this has generated interest I will list his 10 steps below. These are in the form of personal commitments. For his explanation of each see pp. 451-456. 1. “I made a....
Wrongdoing (and heroism) in context
Philip Zimbardo’s 2007 book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, provides an in-depth description and evaluation of his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. To study the dynamics of prison, this famous experiment randomly assigned college student to be guards or inmates in a mock prison. Within a very short time the project had....
Creating the “other” in research, photography, justice
“Much of qualitative research,” writes researcher Michelle Fine, “has reproduced…a colonizing discourse of the ‘Other.'” So also, she might have added, has photography. So also has justice. (See “Working the Hyphens: Reinventing Self and Other in Qualitative Research” in Denzin & Lincoln eds., Handbook of Qualitative Research, 1st Ed.) Nils Christie has spoken of this otherness as....
Restorative “beer summit?” – and a new subscription link
Thanks to Brian Gumm, our web guru at CJP, you can now subscribe to this blog via email or RSS feed. If you sign up for email notice you will received an email notice when a new entry is posted. You’ll find the sign-up links in the right column. Several people or articles have described....
Research as art, transformation and justice
During the last several weeks I turned 65. I also discovered the field of arts-based research (ABR). These two events are more connected than they may seem. As I contemplate moving toward semi-retirement, I have been thinking that I might devote more of my attention to the arts and to their intersection with restorative justice.....