Restorative Justice (6030)

Restorative Justice offers a refreshingly different framework for thinking about crime and other wrongdoing. Increasingly it is being called on as a practice to address non-criminal forms of conflict and harm that lead to deeply divided disputes in civil society. The heart of Restorative Justice is the practice of Restorative Justice Dialogue. This distinctive form of dialogue acknowledges the damaged relationships, as well as the injuries sustained by victims, that result from any wrongdoing and focuses on healing for all those involved. Rather than the adversarial approach commonly found in criminal and civil adjudicatory proceedings, the practice of Restorative Justice Dialogue involves engagement of those harmed, those causing harm and the community for the purpose of social healing in a way that can lead to recovery of our shared humanity in the midst of conflict, crime and harm. This course offers students an opportunity to study the four leading forms of Restorative Justice Dialogue practice: (1) Victim-Offender Dialogue (formerly called Victim-Offender Mediation); (2) Group Conferencing (sometimes called Family Group Conferencing); (3) Talking Circles (sometimes called Peacemaking Circles); and (4) Truth Commissions. The course will examine the principles underlying these forms of Restorative Justice Dialogue practice and explore the possibilities they offer to move beyond the limits of a retributive sense of justice toward embracing the importance of social healing in the community including the potential they have to encourage reform of judicial systems, to address disputes beyond the criminal justice system and to advance racial justice. The course will also explore the application of these processes in schools, workplaces, faith communities and families. Students will be invited to draw on their own experience of conflict as they explore the dynamics of different kinds of conflict. The class will be highly experiential in nature with the practice of the talking circle serving as a core modality for class discussion.