Restorative Practices
A growing number of school communities across the United States have begun to explore the use of restorative justice processes as a means of addressing the limitations of these punitive discipline measures. In states like Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota, educators are implementing a variety of restorative discipline alternatives to traditional measures such as detention, suspension, expulsion, and police charges.
Many school districts have found restorative justice to be a more effective means of addressing school and victim safety, and transforming discipline into a learning opportunity. In schools using restorative justice practices, an offending student is given the opportunity to participate in a restorative discipline process as a means of repairing the harm done to those affected by the wrongdoing. These processes are voluntary for the parties and may be offered in lieu of punitive discipline measures, as a re-entry process following traditional discipline, or in combination with reduced sanctions.
Rather than focusing exclusively on the punishment of offenders and their removal from society, the chief concern of restorative justice is to identify and repair the harm done by crime and wrongdoing to the greatest extent possible. This is achieved by holding offenders directly accountable to those they have harmed, through giving victims a direct voice in the process of repair, restoring the safety and trust within communities, and providing more meaningful outcomes for everyone affected.
Howard Zehr, an early pioneer of this movement, coined three “restorative questions” that have guided these restorative practices around the world. The questions are contrasted below with the “retributive questions” that have characterized the dominant response to crime in Western culture:
Restorative Justice
1. What is the harm that was done?
2. How can that harm be repaired?
3. Who is responsible for this repair?
Retributive Justice
1. What is the law that was broken?
2. Who broke that law?
3. How should they be punished?
Many of the different methods of restorative justice described above, such as victim-offender mediation, community group conferencing, and peacemaking circles, have been found to be useful in school settings. A national contact list for restorative practices in schools provides a good starting point for networking if you are considering this kind of work in your school or district.
Related Videos of Possible Interest
- Conflict Resolution at Lewes New School
- Kids rap - conflict resolution and respect
- Quality Education to Build Peace
- Restorative Justice Arts Initiative
- Restorative Justice: It’s Elementary
- The Forum: Conflict Resolution in a Circle
Related Catalog Resources
Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.
| Resource Title | Description | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Making things right: Restorative justice comes to campuses | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 1, Number 1, (Jan/Feb 2000), discussing the use of restorative justice principles for "creative options to traditional justice systems, options which are flexible enough to allow positive productive responses to a variety of offenses or violations and which also meet the...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Using encouragement | Document which discusses discouraging verbal messages, encouragement and how to teach problem solving skills adapted from Robert J. Mackenzie's book, "Setting limits in the classroom: How to move beyond the classroom dance of discipline." | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Best practices in bullying prevention and intervention | Pdf document outlining best practices for bullying prevention and intervention. | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| 40 cases: Restorative justice and victim-offender mediation | 86-page book in PDF format which, "provides a diverse range of first hand accounts from mediators and facilitators offering some means of communication between victims and offenders. Through the authentic voices of practitioners, the cases unfold to reveal how communication was facilitated and the outcomes that followed. This publication aims to...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Restorative justice in the classroom: Lesson 3 the justice circle | 13-page pdf lesson which "through role-play, students examine the Justice Circle as a way of developing a system of support for both the victim and offender. They learn roles of the participants in a Justice Circle and develop respect for the perspectives and feelings of everyone involved. This includes an overview of who should be involved and...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Community justice in the campus setting | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 3, Number 1, (Oct 2002), which examines the idea of community justice and how it can be used on college campuses to address student misconduct and improve socialization. Includes bibliography. | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Restorative justice in the school setting: A whole school approach | 12-page PDF paper promoting the teaching of restorative justice in schools. "Restorative justice is a philosophy and a set of practices that embraces the right blend between a high degree of discipline that encompasses clear expectations, limits and consequences and a high degree of support and nurturance." | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Restorative justice programs in schools | Web-site created by the Marist Youth Care organization with information about restorative justice programs. "Marist Youth Care is a not for profit agency dealing with at risk young people. We draw our energy and motivation from the call of the gospel to assist socially disadvantaged people to take their rightful place in the community," from the...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Statement of restorative justice principles: As applied in a school setting: 2nd edition | 24-page PDF document of "Principles [which] form the basis for restorative practices in all settings, using all models, where the primary aims are to repair harm and promote dialogue ... Restorative practices are underpinned by a set of values, these include: Empowerment, honesty, respect, engagement, voluntarism, healing, restoration, personal...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| What have I done: Victim empathy pack responsibility exercises | 13-page Word document presenting a "new victim empathy resource designed to keep victim awareness high in Restorative Justice practitioner's priorities." Contains a number of exercises about taking responsibility for one's actions and exploring feelings. | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Incorporating restorative approaches: Slide presentation | 11-slide PowerPoint presentation which accompanies the National Program for Specialist Leaders of Behavior and Attendance: Incorporating Restorative approaches topic guide. | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Implementing restorative justice: A guide for schools | This 24-page pdf is designed to introduce the concepts of restorative justice and restorative discipline to school personnel. "The guide advises on the use of the restorative justice philosophy to achieve student accountability, competency development, as well as community safety. The guide is specifically designed to provide Illinois school...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Incorporating restorative approaches | 82-page PDF topic guide which presents a, "session plan, guidance and resources for training day focusing on incorporating restorative approaches. Aims to develop an understanding of restorative approaches and their role in behaviour and attendance improvement. The aim is also [to] develop an understanding of the leadership issues in incorporating...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Addressing off-campus student conduct with restorative justice | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which introduces a program where "over 200 students ... participated in restorative justice, meeting face-to-face with community members, fellow students, and campus staff to resolve their cases at the neighborhood level, the results of their...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| The Challenge of Culture Change: Embedding Restorative Practice in Schools | Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices: “Building a Global Alliance for Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment”. Sydney, Australia,March 3-5, 2005. Argues that Restorative practice, with its emphasis on relationships, demands that schools attend to all aspects of the...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Teach kids a lesson ... or help them to learn? | 11-page PDF paper which promotes the idea of restorative justice practices in education as opposed to punitive ones. "Restorative justice philosophy views misbehavior in terms of how it has impacted upon relationships in the school community. Once the harm is acknowledged in a concrete way the process moves beyond harm to ask how can this harm...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| National evaluation of the restorative justice in schools programme | 99-page pdf document which provides the findings of national (England and Wales), "projects [which] spanned a range of different approaches to introducing restorative practices into schools, including restorative justice conferences ... the contract to evaluate these initiatives was awarded to Partners in Evaluation, a specialist agency with a...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Program theory for restorative practices in schools | Handout which charts how restorative practices function in schools. | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Continuum of [restorative justice] strategies | 1-page PDF chart illustrating a continuum of restorative justice strategies, with an informal end where staff are provided with skills of how to engage young people in a dialogue that emphasises a greater sense of other and a more formal end with skills to restore damaged relationships following an incident or outburst. | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
| Restorative justice in the classroom: Lesson 4 the justice circle part 2 | 5-page pdf lesson which provides "students with an understanding of the process of Justice Circles and teaching them how to use this strategy in conflict resolution. Students practice setting restorative consequences and assess whether the consequences they identify would be effective in both healing the victim and helping the offender learn a...(see more) | Catalog Listing Direct Link to Resource View in Browser |
