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Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice: Re-storying What Happened in Boston

Pierre R. Berastaín | Posted 04.23.2013 | Impact
Pierre R. Berastaín

I still go to sleep wondering whether more bombs will appear in the city, whether my family will be okay, whether the sounds of sirens and the choppers of helicopters will bring memories of unease. I know I'm not alone.

With Thousands of Schools Curbing Suspensions, There's No Excuse for the Growing Discipline Gap

Jane Ellen Stevens | Posted 04.09.2013 | Impact
Jane Ellen Stevens

More than 23,000 schools out of 132,000 nationwide have or are discarding a highly punitive approach to school discipline in favor of supportive, compassionate and solution-oriented methods. Those that take the slow-but-steady road can see a 20 percent to 40 percent drop in suspensions.

Restorative Justice Practices in Every Classroom

Ted Wachtel | Posted 04.04.2013 | Crime
Ted Wachtel

The data shows that restorative practices in schools have a remarkable positive impact when employed by everyone in the school.

Hope in Change

Tim King | Posted 04.30.2013 | Crime
Tim King

Our changes must go beyond simple gun control; they must be thoughtful, comprehensive and persistent. Controlling the proliferation of guns is important, but supporting educational and community programs are our best bet to break the cycle of violence.

3 Questions About Canada's New Office Of Religious Freedom

Andrew P. Klager, Ph.D. | Posted 04.27.2013 | Religion
Andrew P. Klager, Ph.D.

The ambitions of the Office of Religious Freedom tap into a growing global challenge -- one that some in the general public seem intent on dismissing by caricaturing religious devotees as inherently fanatical whose weak acquiescence to a ragbag of delusional self-therapy fables is intellectually offensive.

An Incubator for Peace

Robert Koehler | Posted 04.18.2013 | Chicago
Robert Koehler

While meanness, disrespect, misunderstanding and temper flare-ups are part of life everywhere, in some neighborhoods they can be life-or-death issues. Teaching social skills, empathy, respect and the ability to listen are absolutely crucial.

Lasting Peace

Robert Koehler | Posted 04.09.2013 | Impact
Robert Koehler

No one "in charge" has a commitment to actual, holistic change -- you know, to the creation of a lasting peace -- because, whatever that might mean, it would be asking too much. What we need is transformation.

Restorative Justice Is Not Forgiveness

Ted Wachtel | Posted 04.01.2013 | Crime
Ted Wachtel

Both the NY Times and the Today Show stories do their audience a disservice by dwelling on forgiveness as the apparent reason for restorative justice. Forgiveness is neither an expectation nor a goal of restorative justice.

Django Unchained: Restorative Justice -- Who We Are, Who We Want to Be

Mary Adkins | Posted 03.18.2013 | Entertainment
Mary Adkins

Perhaps Tarantino's revenge fantasies are so powerful because of the vindictiveness that lies in us even as outside the cinema we pretend it isn't so, because we hope it isn't so.

The American Paradox

Robert Koehler | Posted 02.19.2013 | Politics
Robert Koehler

"Evil visited this community today," the governor of Connecticut said, though he might have been more accurate if he had quoted Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us." This may be the hardest truth of all to swallow.

It's Time for Common Sense School Discipline

Judith Browne Dianis | Posted 02.12.2013 | Black Voices
Judith Browne Dianis

Rather than giving all of our kids an opportunity to succeed, expelling and criminalizing young people pulls the rug out from underneath them at childhood, steering them away from college or career, and redirecting them on the path of dropping out and prison.

DC Council Chair Scuttles Critical Effort to Employ Ex-Offenders

Michael Shank | Posted 12.06.2012 | DC
Michael Shank

If America is the land of opportunity, then people -- all people -- must be given a second chance to pursue their dreams after they have served their sentence.

What Kind Of People Might We Become If We Stopped Killing Killers?

Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph. D. | Posted 01.28.2013 | Religion
Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph. D.

While most of us never have to notice how much killing happens on our behalf, the social ethos of retribution and punishment behind the urge to execute infects much of our society and our souls.

Pro-Civil Unions Incumbent Faces Tight Race

The Colorado Independent | Scot Kersgaard | Posted 11.05.2012 | Denver

From The Colorado Independent's Scot Kersgaard. Pete Lee has served one term in the Colorado House, and as a Democrat from conservative Colorado Sp...

Task Force to Host Historic Restorative Justice Conference at Harvard Law School

Pierre R. Berastaín | Posted 12.26.2012 | Home
Pierre R. Berastaín

The initiative comes at a particularly important time given the alarming statistics that reflect the inefficiency of the criminal justice system, mainstream domestic violence and sexual violence programs, and the inimical zero tolerance policies implemented in school districts nation-wide.

Toxic Faith: Did Jesus Die To Save Us From God?

Derek Flood | Posted 11.17.2012 | Religion
Derek Flood

Why did Jesus have to die? Was it to appease a wrathful God's demand for punishment? Does that mean Jesus died to save us from God? How could someone ever truly love or trust a God like that?

Get a Rock and Talk

Robert Koehler | Posted 11.13.2012 | Parents
Robert Koehler

He'd won his case. He got custody of his daughter. This is the limit of conventional justice: "victory," which of course means defeat for the other person, in this case, the mother of his daughter. Why not celebrate? But Bill Heenan had the nagging feeling that his daughter was also one of the losers in the decision.

Make Bullying History: Stopping Violence Before It Starts

Rep. Mike Honda | Posted 10.29.2012 | Impact
Rep. Mike Honda

We must acknowledge publicly that we have a bullying epidemic in America. This is a problem that is both profound and pervasive.

Forgiveness: You Can't Have It Both Ways

Maria Mayo | Posted 07.22.2012 | Religion
Maria Mayo

Conflating biblical understandings of forgiveness with individual, therapeutic notions distorts the biblical text and creates pressure on individual victims.

Galatians 3:23-29: The Law Was Our Teacher

Reverend William E. Flippin, Jr. | Posted 06.27.2012 | Religion
Reverend William E. Flippin, Jr.

The key to dealing with most criminal behavior may well be the application of basic Christian principles: repent, make restitution, restore relationships and change your ways.

State of Fear

Robert Koehler | Posted 06.25.2012 | Politics
Robert Koehler

This was the headline: "Zimmerman, Martin's parents to face off in court." The words, of course, merely summed up a moment in the news cycle last we...

A Green Tree in Your Heart

Robert Koehler | Posted 05.01.2012 | Chicago
Robert Koehler

It's a world of risky reaching out, groping for connection. What I got was music, art, story. What I got was politics, courage and craftsmanship, sometimes wrapped around anger, more often wrapped around love.

Forgiveness: Finding the Gift in the Wound

Marina Cantacuzino | Posted 04.30.2012 | Crime
Marina Cantacuzino

"Who is the enemy?" asks Azim, "the 14-year-old who killed my son or societal forces that forced Tony to join a gang? There were victims at both ends of the gun."

Chicago Schools Pumped Up on Policing

Annette Fuentes | Posted 04.09.2012 | Home
Annette Fuentes

Policing in Chicago's schools arguably diminishes the quality of life, and more to the point, the educations of thousands of kids who get on the wrong side of the law.

Transforming Troubled Schools

Robert Koehler | Posted 04.03.2012 | Home
Robert Koehler

Restorative practices is a movement slowly transforming troubled schools and troubled communities around the globe -- a movement replacing zero tolerance and other punishment-based and wildly ineffective practices that increase people's feelings of separation and alienation from one another.