Restorative Practices are practices in which one places relationships and repairing harm, above punitive and punishing notions. These practices allow us to engage with one another when there is conflict, to hold each other accountable and to give the person who is harmed an opportunity to share how they were impacted. Restorative practices are aboutRead More
Restorative Practices Resources
Restorative Justice Practices serve both organizations and our wider communities by providing a framework based in relationship. By focusing on relationships first, and involving both those who have been harmed and those who caused harm in the restoration process, we can uncover layers of resentment, issues related to power dynamics, and shame related to the breakage of relationship.
Using restorative practices in our organizations improves morale and productivity, increases employee and volunteer retention, and helps us live into values we aspire to as humans.
Core Assumptions About Restorative Practices
Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice seeks a balance between local community norms and larger social norms. We all agree it’s not okay to kill someone or to steal from people. However, some local communities stressed by long term economic instability, poverty and gangs begin to create a different standard of social norms that become aRead More
Truth and Reconciliation: The Power of Restoring Relationships
In 1989 the African National Congress transitioned to power in South Africa and in 19996, they created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Commission was the first ever of its kind – at least on a large national scale. It was, in my opinion, an evolutionary and a revolutionary move. One that shifted away fromRead More
Restorative Justice: A Relational Alternative
Historically, when a member of the tribe or group committed a terrible crime, they were banished. But crimes that were not so terrible, required a different sort of response because all members of the community were important for the harvest, or the hunt, banishing someone caused hardship for everyone, not just the person banished.
