The following are highlights gleaned from the past two months. For a more comprehensive news feed, please follow @iirpgradschool on twitter. (You need not join twitter in order to read our daily posts.)
Justice
The Centre for Justice & Reconciliation, a project of Prison Fellowship International, launches its new and improved web site at RestorativeJustice.org.
For International Restorative Justice Week 2015, the Community of Restorative Researchers (CoRR) has published Restorative Introductions, a collection of short pieces related to research, practice, policymaking and activism. Also, listen to Restorative Conversations, Episode 2 in which CoRR founder Ian Marder interviews Andrew Hancock, Restorative Justice Coordinator for Darlington, UK (North East England), and Stephen Twist, a barrister and restorative practitioner, about Darlington’s Restorative Justice Hub and related topics.
Restorative Justice: An International Journal published Volume 3, Issue 1.
"Justice after injustice": In the online magazine Slate, Lara Bazelon takes an in-depth look at an innovative restorative approach to heal "all of those who are harmed by wrongful convictions" – exonerees, crime victims and family members.
Newly elected Nashville, Tenn., mayor Megan Barry plans to address "The New Jim Crow" through restorative justice and other means.
Northern Ireland pilots intensive community service and restorative justice options as an alternative to short jail terms.
Manitoba, Canada, launches its Restorative Justice Act, the first of its kind in the country, which Attorney General Gord Mackintosh says "will set the province on an innovative path to increase the use of restorative justice … by expanding programs and services for victims, offenders and the community."
The Restorative Justice City: The Institute for the Future invites you to "reimagine and rebuild your criminal justice system through participatory and inclusive approaches... ."
Schools
RAND researchers, who are currently studying the effectiveness of IIRP's SaferSanerSchools program in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Maine, discuss how the U.S. Department of Education's Rethinking Discipline campaign can bring attention to restorative practices (from Education Week).
A+ Schools, the Pittsburgh, Pa., Community Alliance for Public Education, observes in its 2015 Report to the Community that where restorative practices are implemented there have been fewer suspensions and students feel more academically challenged, and they urge parents to get involved.
Fania Davis, director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, recaps the history of restorative practices in Oakland, Calif., schools, framed with a pertinent example.
Edutopia continues its series on upgrading the parent-teacher conference and provides suggestions for true collaboration.
Deeper discipline demands deeper pedagogy: Sarah M. Fine, a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, discovers the coherence between the philosophies of restorative approaches and student-centered teaching models.
Rick Phillips of Community Matters writes, "We are excited and hopeful that the restorative practices movement is growing in schools across the country and beyond."
On National Public Radio, Karen Junkers, a SaferSanerSchools Instructor and sixth-grade math teacher in San Rafael, Calif., talks about how her school cut the suspension rate and how she might approach difficult behavioral situations.
Education World highlights four innovative schools that are implementing restorative school programs nationwide.
Baltimore Sun op-ed touts success of City Springs School at reducing violence and suspensions with restorative circles.
Waco, Texas, responds to high rate of detentions by implementing restorative practices and shows deep reductions in suspensions.
The Power of a Story: A student damages the beloved school homecoming car, but instead of suspension he gets to repair the harm and as a result becomes more connected to the school.
Community
Restorative Action Without Borders was organized to provide restorative responses to the international refugee crisis by Vidia Negrea, of IIRP Europe, with members of the European Forum for Restorative Justice. Vidia has been holding circles for participants at conferences worldwide including at the 19th IIRP World Conference. Sign up to receive updates.
The Art of Getting Opponents to “We”: David Bornstein, writing for the New York Times, explores conversations that bring people with conflicting viewpoints together to achieve understanding and cooperation.
