Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice empowers students to resolve conflicts on their own. It is a growing movement in schools around the country. Students are trained to bring other students together in peer-mediated, small groups to talk, ask questions, air their grievances and explore resolutions.

 

The Restorative Resources/Justice Program began in 2013 as a pilot program. The Beliefs of Restorative Justice are that justice should, to the greatest degree possible, do five things:

• Invite full participation of all parties affected by a crime and allow each voice to be heard
• Focus on harms done, not on laws broken
• Seek full and direct accountability from those who caused the harm, help victims recover in concrete and meaningful ways what was lost, and repair what was damaged
• After reparation and restitution, reintegrate the parties back into the community
• Strengthen the community to own its responsibility for causes that lead to crime, thereby preventing future harm

The Restorative Justice program helps strengthen our campus community, prevent bullying and reduce student conflicts. It leads to significant reductions in suspension and expulsion rates. This is a fundamental shift away from punishing individuals after wrongdoing and instead repairing the harm that was done and preventing its reoccurrence while understanding the impacts on school and communities.

For more information, contact 528-5021.