Restorative Justice
Yesterday I was scanning through the Time Out (Redeemer's daily newsletter) and saw an advertisement for a seminar on Restorative Justice by an acclaimed author and practitioner Howard Zehr. As I noted in a previous blog (I can't find it), I have a lazy student these past couple of years and haven't taken advantage of any of the extracurricular seminars, concerts, events, that are offered. I don't even go to the weekly chapel. On a spur of the moment, I decided to go to this seminar since I've heard of restorative justice and find it really interesting. I also would like to volunteer at the jail again soon and make that a part of my life so who knows where restorative justice will fit into my life. I'm glad I went. I felt productive and excited about learning. I also left with a wierd but calming sense of purpose for my life. Although I have been in a slump for a while now, my whole life won't be in a slump and God will use my education and where I am now for where I am going.
Here are a few points that I wrote down from the seminar:
- RJ seeks justice for victims, offenders and communities
-Victims need a sense of safety, answers, a chance to tell their story, an experience of empowerment (after power has been robbed from them), and vindication in order for them to feel like justice has been served
-Offenders need to take accountability and in turn need to re-story their own lives from this experience in order for justice to be done
-Communities need to acknowledge their own obligations in all of this in order for justice to be done
-RJ is more than a program, it is a framework
-like everything else, RJ can have a lot of dangers in it too. All interventions can go astray. There are too many starry eyed followers (especially since Oprah has done some shows on it). Zehr said that he prefers a sceptic than a starry eyed follower.
-RJ reminds us that we are all interconnected. "When I do something wrong, I acknowledge it and make it right". This reminds us of the importance of relationship.
-Trauma that is unaddressed is reinacted. We have to deal with the injustie in the offenders life as well.
As we were getting up to leave I stopped to talk to a lady that I have had a very sparratic but intensly good connection with. I don't really know her or what her job is but we both seem to be interested in the same kinds of things and I've told her about where I am and what I'm doing and she never seems to make me feel bad (even when I should). As we were talking she asked me why I was there. I said, well, I saw it in the Time Out and thought I should come. Without even blinking she said "Okay, that's a functional answer, so why are you here?" Yikes. Got me there. It was good to hear someone make me look deeper. I don't know what role RJ will have in my life but I'm sure it will. I want to learn more about it. Not necessarily to become a facilitator but to know about it, use it in practice, and know who to point to for directions if the need should arise.
Here are a few points that I wrote down from the seminar:
- RJ seeks justice for victims, offenders and communities
-Victims need a sense of safety, answers, a chance to tell their story, an experience of empowerment (after power has been robbed from them), and vindication in order for them to feel like justice has been served
-Offenders need to take accountability and in turn need to re-story their own lives from this experience in order for justice to be done
-Communities need to acknowledge their own obligations in all of this in order for justice to be done
-RJ is more than a program, it is a framework
-like everything else, RJ can have a lot of dangers in it too. All interventions can go astray. There are too many starry eyed followers (especially since Oprah has done some shows on it). Zehr said that he prefers a sceptic than a starry eyed follower.
-RJ reminds us that we are all interconnected. "When I do something wrong, I acknowledge it and make it right". This reminds us of the importance of relationship.
-Trauma that is unaddressed is reinacted. We have to deal with the injustie in the offenders life as well.
As we were getting up to leave I stopped to talk to a lady that I have had a very sparratic but intensly good connection with. I don't really know her or what her job is but we both seem to be interested in the same kinds of things and I've told her about where I am and what I'm doing and she never seems to make me feel bad (even when I should). As we were talking she asked me why I was there. I said, well, I saw it in the Time Out and thought I should come. Without even blinking she said "Okay, that's a functional answer, so why are you here?" Yikes. Got me there. It was good to hear someone make me look deeper. I don't know what role RJ will have in my life but I'm sure it will. I want to learn more about it. Not necessarily to become a facilitator but to know about it, use it in practice, and know who to point to for directions if the need should arise.
posted by Nicole at 1:39 p.m.
2 Comments:
It was very fleeting.
Hey, where you been?
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