News & Announcements
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Balloon release at Fenger High School, from video uploaded by Robert SpicerRobert Koehler's column this week for the Chicago Tribune focuses on a school transformation at Fenger High School in Chicago.
"Fenger used to have a terrible reputation, which reached its nadir a little over three years ago when one of its students, Derrion Albert, was caught in the middle of a gang melee on his way home from school and beaten to death with two-by-fours," writes Koehler. "His murder was caught on a cellphone video and became international news."
But now students are taught skills to handle conflict, alternatives to violence, which are making a huge difference:
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. And it can’t be done half-heartedly, said Robert Spicer, Fenger’s Culture and Climate coordinator and the person who facilitates the school’s peer jury program. “Lives are at stake.”
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Two IIRP assistant professors, John Bailie and Craig Adamson, have co-authored an article, "Education Versus Learning: Restorative Practices in Higher Education," which has been published in the Journal of Transformative Education. John Bailie is also IIRP's Director of Continuing Education. Craig Adamson is Executive Director of Community Service Foundation and Buxmont Academy, IIRP's model programs that serve at-risk youth in eastern Pennsylvania using restorative practices.
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Representatives of school and church meet over breakfast in Susquehanna Township. Photo by M. Diane McCormick for PennLive.com
The Susquehanna Township (Pennsylvania) School District has not only been implementing restorative practices district-wide. They are also reaching out to the wider community to involve them in the changes happening in the school and expand their efforts. This article from the the Harrisburg Patriot News/PennLive.com describes how for the first time ever the district invited leaders of local churches to attend "a 'faith-based breakfast' at [the school's] administrative building." IIRP instructor Steve Korr made a presentation during the breakfast about restorative practices and the district's efforts.
“This is a nice way to network with the community, and the churches in the area are partners with us,” [Superintendent Susan M.] Kegerise said. “We have to cultivate that. Their parishioners are our students.”
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Chief Executive Officer of the Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF), Donna Parchment Brown (left), engages in light discussion with Campion College students, Khadijah Chin (right) and Jordan Jarrett, at the Restorative Justice Facilitators graduation and awards ceremony held on Thursday, February 7, at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston. Photo & caption from JIS.
Latonya Linton, for the Jamaica Information Service on February 8, 2013, writes:
The Ministry of Justice will be partnering with the Ministry of Education to implement restorative practices within the education system.
“We intend to partner with the (Education) Ministry to ensure that the option is available to our schools so that we can mitigate some of the challenges that our schools face in handling conflicts,” said Permanent Secretary in the Justice Ministry, Carol Palmer.
She was speaking at the Restorative Justice Facilitators graduation and awards ceremony held on Thursday, February 7 at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston.
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Restorative Justice for youth in Oakland.
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Public Counsel Law Center has just published a downloadable toolkit and launched a web site aimed at revising discipline policies in schools in California. Beginning with the statement, "During the 2010-2011 academic year, California schools issued more suspensions than diplomas," the toolkit goes on to argue the need to end ineffective zero-tolerance policies and employ alternative approaches.
The "Good News" section of the toolkit (which can also be found online here) begins with a section about restorative justice and restorative practices. It says:
"Restorative Practices, which builds upon Restorative Justice and applies in the school context, is used to build a sense of school community and resolve conflict by repairing harm and restoring positive relationships through the use of regular 'restorative circles' where students and educators work together to set academic goals, develop core values for the classroom community and resolve conflicts."
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Photo by FMSC at Flickr Creative CommonsMiguel Tello, Representative for IIRP Latinoamérica, has helped to launch an exciting restorative practices program in El Salvador.
Miguel also directs the Strachan Foundation, a family foundation that supports educational organizations throughout Central America with small grants. Four Strachan Foundation grantees in El Salvador will also receive restorative practices training, including Fe y Alegria, a respected NGO (non-governmental organization), which is part of a federation of 19 NGOs in Latin America, Spain and Chad founded by Jesuits, that works with very poor schools in those areas.
In 2011 Miguel provided introduction to restorative practices and circles trainings to employees of Fe y Alegria. Then in 2012 Miguel facilitated two crucial restorative circles with staff in two different schools that Fe y Allegria works with, the El Rodeo I school in Ahuachapan and Los Laureles school in Acajutla. The schools are located in rural areas characterized by poverty, violence and gang activity. There is a great deal not only of student conflict, but also staff conflict. Yet the restorative circles made an impact, and the teachers found them transformative. According to Miguel, one teacher said afterwards, “This is the first time we’ve been able to have a conversation with one another.”
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Prevention Researcher devotes the entire contents of its February 2013 issue to the topic of "Restorative justice: Changing how we approach crime and wrongdoing." Prevention Researcher has made the entire issue viewable in digital format on line.
Relevant links can be found embedded in the following text from associate editor Colette Kimball's blog post, "Restorative justice: The evolution of an issue":
"For our issue, we found an excellent author, Avery Calhoun, to write the introduction, which provides a brief history and gives us a foundation. Then, we feature two case studies – one set in a school and one in a juvenile justice program – to show restorative justice at work.
- Details
- Written by Laura Mirsky
Boys at the Southside Bethlehem (PA, USA) Boys & Girls ClubTwo high school kids were on the verge of a serious fight on the basketball court, but they decided to talk it out instead. They weren’t afraid to use their words instead of their fists. They’d learned about restorative practices at Liberty High School, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA, and took it with them out into the world. Winston Alozie, program director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bethlehem, told the story:
"I was in the Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent’s Committee on Diversity meeting, and people were discussing how restorative practices are working in the district. There had been a year of restorative practices implementation at Liberty and Freedom high schools in Bethlehem at this time. The NAACP was in on the meeting, too, and they were asking, 'Does it work?' When I heard this, I was eager to share how I had seen the practices working outside the classroom.
Winston Alozie, program director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bethlehem"We have a large gymnasium where I see 80 to 100 kids a day, mostly high school students. They love to play basketball. One afternoon I walked into the gym and the kids were on the verge of a fight. Boys were pushing and yelling — taking sides and gathering around two boys in the center. Some of these kids have gang affiliations, so I was afraid this could be bad. But what could have turned into a big brouhaha did not because the kids used restorative practices.
"One boy was offended by what another boy had said to him. They were yelling back and forth, when one boy suddenly said, 'Look, I don’t want to fight. I don’t like what you said; you hurt my feelings.' Then the other boy said, 'You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Let’s not do this.'
"I was so proud of these kids: that high school students could behave that way. One kid was able to say how the other kid had affected him, and the other kid was able to take responsibility and apologize. They weren’t afraid of being seen as a wimp or less of a man. And there was nobody standing over them and telling them to do this; it was their own idea.
Getting along in basketball
"It was clear to me they had learned how to do this from the restorative practices and circles they had learned at Liberty. These kids are learning how to be compassionate and empathetic, how to be in touch with their feelings and the feelings of others. I had never seen anything like this in nine years working at the Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs.
"I have my bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology. When I first heard about restorative practices I thought, OK, but how’s it going to work with regular kids? When I saw what those boys did it really touched me. If you can express yourself effectively with words, it’s a beautiful thing. I hope we can incorporate these practices into the Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs. I think it would help us with our mission to help our kids reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens."
- Details
- Written by Joshua Wachtel
Restorative justice has been receiving a lot of attention lately, due to Paul Tullis’s January 4 New York Times Magazine article, “Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice?”
This story about a restorative justice conference following the murder of a young woman by her boyfriend was also covered on the January 5 episode of the Today show, “Parents who forgave their daughter's killer: It 'frees us'.”
Both the Times and the Today 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. Forgiveness may be a by-product, but the notion that a crime victim should forgive an offender imposes unrealistic and potentially hurtful demands on a crime victim.
Restorative Works Year in Review 2023 (PDF)
All our donors are acknowledged annually in Restorative Works.