What are Restorative Practices?
What is Restorative Justice?
Restorative justice and restorative practices have their roots in values of the connection and acknowledging the inter-relatedness between all people; believing that what I do affects you and vice versa, even when it's subtle. Sometimes, its overt. Indigenous people all over the world have lived according to this ethos since the beginning of human life on the planet. This way of caring for community, sometimes referred to as restorative practices, recognizes that we need each other in order to survive, so slowing down and taking the time to cultivate habits for building, caring for and deepening relationships so that all people feel that they are known, that they belong, that they matter are really good ideas. It's like a muscle. When we are in the world this way, we are all safer; meaning, we're less likely to cause to each other harm when we know each other's stories, and we're more likely to put in the work of repairing that harm when (not if!) relationships are damaged. Sometimes, this harm is accidental, unintentional, a byproduct of living; and sometimes it is purposeful, intentional, even malicious. Either way, repair is work that's difficult to do in isolation; instead, repair benefits from being done in community with our fellow humans who offer both support and accountability towards making things right and preventing something similar from happening again.
Restorative justice - the relationally based practices of repairing harm - brings people together to consider the harm, the needs connected with that harm and whose obligation it is to follow through on those needs. Thus, restorative justice can be practiced within a bunch of different contexts - really, anywhere that people live in community with each other! This includes educational, residential, familial and criminal legal systems around the world. Restorative Justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the (re)habilitation of people who have caused harm through reconciliation with harmed parties (victims) and the community at large. When those that have been harmed, those who have caused harm, and community members meet to decide how to repair harm, and plan together for how to prevent something similar from occurring again in the future, the results can be highly satisfactory to all involved.
Those harmed take an active role in the process, while those who caused harm are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions "to repair the harm they've done." This approach fosters dialogue between the harmed party (victim) and offender and it shows the highest rates of satisfaction and accountability. The process also holds the potential for those harmed and their families to have a direct voice in determining just outcomes and reestablishes the role of the community in supporting all parties affected by wrongdoing or crime.
Restorative justice - the relationally based practices of repairing harm - brings people together to consider the harm, the needs connected with that harm and whose obligation it is to follow through on those needs. Thus, restorative justice can be practiced within a bunch of different contexts - really, anywhere that people live in community with each other! This includes educational, residential, familial and criminal legal systems around the world. Restorative Justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the (re)habilitation of people who have caused harm through reconciliation with harmed parties (victims) and the community at large. When those that have been harmed, those who have caused harm, and community members meet to decide how to repair harm, and plan together for how to prevent something similar from occurring again in the future, the results can be highly satisfactory to all involved.
Those harmed take an active role in the process, while those who caused harm are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions "to repair the harm they've done." This approach fosters dialogue between the harmed party (victim) and offender and it shows the highest rates of satisfaction and accountability. The process also holds the potential for those harmed and their families to have a direct voice in determining just outcomes and reestablishes the role of the community in supporting all parties affected by wrongdoing or crime.
Learn more about restorative justice from nationally renowned trainer and facilitator for peacemaking, Kay Pranis, in An Internal Compass. Pranis, from 1994 - 2003, served as the Restorative Justice Planner for the Minnesota Departments of Corrections. She has travelled across the world speaking with a diverse range of communities to teach others about peacemaking circles and restorative justice. She is co-author of Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community and the author of Little Book of Circle Processes: A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking.