1. Creating conditions for realizing the gift of conflict
Restorative Circles
Creating conditions for realizing
the gift of conflict

2. Paradigm Shift
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. ~ Albert Einstein

3. Conventional paradigm
What happens when rules are broken?
A justice system springs into action
Takes conflict away from those involved
Identifies who broke the rule (the “offender”)
Determines what rule was broken
Punishes offender (appropriately)
We call the punishment “justice”
We’re about 400 X more just than in 1980

4. Retributive or Punitive Justice
What law has been broken?
Who broke it?
How shall they be punished?

5. Does punishment = justice ?
Is it moral?
Old Testament: “An eye for an eye”
Talmud: “If we are kind to those to whom we should be cruel, then we will be cruel to those to whom we should be kind”
Conventional Justice: “The punishment must fit the crime”
But
“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” ~ source
“Harmed people harm people”

6. Does punishment = justice ?
Is it effective?
We really need to define “effective”
Is the right person punished?
Is the punishment unbiased?
Racial profiling by police
Unequal access to quality legal representation
Racial bias in jury verdicts and sentencing

7. Racial bias in policing
Ayres & Borowsky analyzed outcomes of pedestrian and motor vehicle stops by the Los Angeles Police Department from July, 2003 to June, 2004
Per 10,000 residents, the black stop rate is 3,400 stops higher than the white stop rate
Relative to stopped whites, stopped blacks are 127% more likely to be frisked.
Relative to stopped whites, stopped blacks are 76% more likely to have their vehicle searched.
Relative to stopped whites, stopped blacks are (only!) 29% more likely to be arrested
Ayres, I. & Borowsky (2008). A Study of Racially Disparate Outcomes in the Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved from

8. Does punishment = justice ?
Is it effective?
We really need to define “effective”
Is the right person punished?
Is the punishment unbiased?
Are offenders rehabilitated?
Is the community safer?

9. Is there a better way to do justice?
What would an ideal justice system look like?

10. Defining “Restorative Justice”
An approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the involved community, instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender.
Based on a theory of justice that considers crime and wrongdoing to be an offence against an individual or community, rather than the state.

11. What is Restorative Justice?
Restorative Justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense and to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible. ~Howard Zehr

12. Restorative Principles
Ideally involves everyone impacted by what happened (i.e., community involvement)
Cares for well-being of “victim”, “offender” and community
Focus on repairing harm
Voluntariness
Power sharing

13. Working WITH people

14. Restorative or Unitive Justice
What harm has been caused and to whom?
What needs have arisen based on this harm?
Whose obligation is it to meet these needs?

15. Restorative Justice Goals
Process: To create a container where
the needs of all parties matter
“truth” can be spoken
perspective taking is possible
Goals
Identify and repair the harm done
Restore relationships
Create conditions to decrease likelihood of future harm

16. Purple and Black by Patricia Williams
Alternative Perspectives
Purple and Black by Patricia Williams
One summer when I was about six, my family drove to Maine.
The highway was very straight and hot and shimmered darkly in the sun.
My sister and I sat in the back seat of the Studebaker and argued about what color the road was. I said black. My sister said purple.
After I had harangued her into admitting that it was indeed black, my father gently pointed out that my sister still saw it as purple.
I was unimpressed with the relevance of that at the time; but with the passage of years, and much more observation, I have come to see endless highways as slightly more purple than black.
My sister and I will probably argue about the hue of life's roads forever.
But the lesson I learned from listening to her wild perceptions is that it really is possible to see things--even the most concrete things--simultaneously yet differently; and that seeing simultaneously yet differently is more easily done by two people than one, but that one person can get the hang of it with lots of time and effort.

17. Reality is complicated
Sometimes what you see depends on what you focus on first.

18. Reality is complicated
Sometimes what you think you see when you’re far away (metaphorically, as well as literally), is not at all what you see when you get up close and personal.

19. Reality is complicated
Sometimes it just depends on where you’re standing

20. Reality is complicated
Sometimes we see part of our own self (projection)

21. The Three Goals (by David Budbill)
The first goal is to see the thing itself in and for itself, to see it simply and clearly for what it is. No symbolism, please.
The second goal is to see each individual thing as unified, as one, with all the other ten thousand things. In this regard, a little wine helps a lot.
The third goal is to grasp the first and the second goals, to see the universal and the particular, simultaneously. Regarding this one, call me when you get it.

22. The RJ Umbrella

23. Restorative Circle Principles
Conflict is healthy, not dangerous
Three parties to every conflict
The community owns the conflict
Solutions require true understanding
Dialog is the pathway to understanding