News & Announcements

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On February 14 and 15, 2013, coinciding with Black History Month activities, Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York and the Kings County District Attorney's Office have partnered to create their first Symposium on Race, Law and Justice. The theme of the Symposium is "Closing the School-to-Prison Pipeline." IIRP Director of Continuing Education John Bailie will be part of a national panel to come together and "address the rapidity with which young students are being driven away from a learning environment toward a life involving the criminal justice system."

Details: Thursday, February 14, 2013, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM and Friday, February 15, 2013, 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM at 1150 Carroll Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225 (between Nostrand Avenue & Rogers Avenue). RSVP to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via telephone at (718) 250-2988.

Information and registration details can also be found here.

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Last week I posted links to a story about restorative justice used in a murder case. Subsequently on the Restorative Justice International LinkedIn group Lisa Rea, president of the Justice and Reconciliation Project, posted a link to a piece from five years about another such instance. Rea and Cheryl Ward-Kaiser, a woman whose daughter was raped and husband murdered in front of her eyes, discuss Ward-Kaiser's quest to meet the perpetrators of the crime and restorative justice in general during this half-hour segment from National Public Radio. Listen here.

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Timote Vaka, 18, a senior at Ralph J. Bunche High School in Oakland by Ramin Rahimian for Education Week

Nirvi Shah at EdWeek has reported many times on restorative justice, restorative practices and other alternatives to zero tolerance policies in schools. This week the magazine published a lengthy piece, "Discipline policies shift with views on what works," as well as a shorter piece about a young man, Timote Vaka, who undergoes restorative justice at his alternative high school in Oakland.

Vaka had already been expelled from his public school, but at his new school which utilizes restorative justice, he had dramatically improved his grades and behavior. However, he lost his temper on the basketball court and assaulted a player on the opposing team. A "restorative  justice" teacher, Eric Butler, who had a good relationship with Vaka, advocated that Vaka get another chance rather than be expelled from this "last chance" school.

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Andrew Shaw, writing in the York Dispatch, reports that "Four York County [Pennsylvania] schools received state grant funding to prevent and reduce incidents of violence."

One of the four schools, Crispus Attucks YouthBuild charter school, "is working with Bethlehem's International Institute for Restorative Practices. The institute will train YouthBuild teachers with its 'Safer, Saner Schools' [sic] program to reduce 'incidents of misbehaviors, expulsions, bullying and student absenteeism,' according to principal Melissa Bupp.

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The New York Times Magazine published a lengthy and very moving story January 4 by Paul Tillis about a restorative justice conference, which took place in the wake of a gun murder of a young woman by her boyfriend in Tallahassee, Florida. I couldn't begin to excerpt any of this story. But I recommend that it be read here and that the video below, of interviews with the parents of both victim and offender, be watched.

https://www.today.com/embedded-video/mmvo701261891721

From the Today Show January 7, 2013.

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Les Davey, director of IIRP UK & Ireland, writes:

In partnership with the City of Salford, IIRP UK & Ireland are pleased to announce their Summer 2013 Conference: "Restorative Practice: The way forward in Salford" to be held at Salford City Stadium, Manchester, on Thursday, 20th June 2013.

We are pleased to announce that Transforming Conflict is collaborating with us in planning a workshop stream. Both organizations are exploring closer collaboration where possible, as we share so many core values, principles and practices. This event will replace Transforming Conflict’s annual conference "Restorative Approaches in Educational and Care Settings" Conference for this year.

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Here's a 48-minute video produced by Heartspeak Productions with the Community Justice Initiatives Association from the Fraser region of British Columbia. The film discusses Canadian law and constitution and human rights as a fundamental basis of law. The film examines the effectiveness of punishment and deterrence, as well as alternatives including restorative justice and diversion. It argues that restorative justice can fulfill the human rights obligations embedded in Canadian law and also be more effective. While this film focuses on the Canadian system, there are many ideas that will be relevant to law and criminal justice in other countries.

The video can also be found at the following link:
Restorative Justice is the LAW | CJIBC.

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This article recounts a great story in which a restorative circle was used to address conflict with about 20 girls in an alternative school in Maryland. Joe Burris of the Baltimore Sun writes:

It began as many confrontations between students do: with a hard stare between two passing strangers, according to Toni Holmes, a senior at an Ellicott City alternative school. One of the girls told a friend, "I don't like her." Snide remarks about clothing and appearance went back and forth, and then other girls chimed in.

Soon, unexplained yet simmering enmity exploded into a series of face-to-face confrontations among about 20 girls at the Homewood Center. Teachers got hurt preventing the arguments from becoming physical, and hallways were often deemed unsafe.

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Presentations from the IIRP UK & Ireland 2012 Conference in Swansea, Wales: “Putting Theory into Practice: The Restorative Way”

Following up from the IIRP UK & Ireland 2012 Conference in partnership with City and County of Swansea: “Putting Theory into Practice: The Restorative Way” at Liberty Stadium, on Thursday 29th November, below are links to PDF files of the Plenary and Workshop Presentations submitted by presenters so far.

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The National Center on Family Group Decision Making has a new home at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect in Denver, CO. Previously with the American Humane Association, the Center has a new web site, which can be found at http://www.fgdm.org.

The new site explains, "Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) recognizes the importance of involving family groups in decision making about children who need protection or care, and it can be initiated by service providers and/or community organizations whenever a critical decision about a child or youth is required. In FGDM processes, a trained coordinator who is independent of the case brings together the family group and the service providers to create and carry out a plan to safeguard children and other family members. FGDM processes position the family group to lead decision making, and the statutory authorities agree to support family group plans that adequately address agency concerns."

The National Center on FGDM has been a longtime friend of the IIRP, and worked together in 2004 to produce the Family Voices video, which lets families who have been through the FGDM process, a restorative practice, speak for themselves about the process and the impact it had on their lives.

The Center announces that its next "FGDM and Other Family Engagement Approaches Conference" will be held in Eagle County, Colorado on June 10-13, 2014, with a call for proposals expected in February 2013. An eForum post on the keynote from the last conference can be found here.

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