Is restorative justice sufficiently transformative? Should the term be “transformative” rather than “restorative” justice? Are they different phenomena or are they one and the same? This debate has been ongoing since the origin of the field. When trying to decide on a term in the 1980s, I considered the word transformative but rejected it as....
Justice as restoration of trust
“Restorative justice is a bold and thought-provoking innovation that has engaged the energies and excited the hopes of criminal justice reformers throughout the world over the last several decades. And yet, while it has achieved outstanding results in thousands of programs, it has remained a marginal development because it has failed to articulate a theory....
Death of a mentor
Milton Rogovin died this month at the age of 101. Although I only met him once, through his photographs and writing he has been one of my mentors. 1998 photo by Howard Zehr As NPR noted in his obituary, Rogovin’s life was about seeing, though the methods changed. He began his professional life helping others....
The story is true
“Stories are the way we domesticate the world’s disorder.” (Bruce Jackson, The Story is True) My last entry emphasized the importance of story. Since stories are essential to the experience of victims and offenders – and to all of us – I want to explore this topic a bit further here. Our histories, our identities,....
Crossing the divide
In a recent blog entry, a conservative blogger in the United Kingdom calls for more attention to restorative justice. Citing a speech by conservative MP Alan Duncan, the blogger suggests that restorative justice may be more than a way to reduce the revolving door or “carousel” of prison; indeed, it could have substantial benefits for....
Justice for children whose parents are in prison
Three million children in the United States are estimated to have one or both parents in prison. Here is some information about these children: 1 in 15 African American children has a parent in prison. For white children the figure is 1 in 110. About half of parents in prison have never had a personal....
Decolonizing research and photography
“From the vantage point of the colonized, a position from which I write, and choose to privilege, the term “research” is inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism. The word itself, ‘research,’ is probably one of the dirtiest words in the indigenous world’s vocabulary. When mentioned in many indigenous contexts, it stirs up silence, it....
Social work and restorative justice
Social Work and Restorative Justice: Skills for Dialogue, Peacemaking and Reconciliation, edited by Elizabeth Beck, Nancy P. Kropf and Pamela Blume-Leonard (Oxford University Press, 2011), is an important collection of essays on this subject. It will be of interest to both social work and restorative justice practitioners. The following is the Afterword that Lorraine Stutzman....
Hip-hop justice
“The American criminal justice system is so dysfunctional that it presents well-intentioned people with a dilemma. Should good people cooperate with it?” Paul Butler should know whereof he speaks: he is a former federal prosecutor. Speaking of prison, he says, “The criminal justice system gives the state a monopoly on exercising that kind of retribution. ....
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