Author: lindseycpointer
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How can the circle manage power differences between participants?
Type of process: Circle Conference Participants: 2 Students – Shane and Brian Student Advocate – Elizabeth Professor – Paul 2 Facilitators Referring agent: Student Advocate Factual Synopsis: A dispute over the grading of an assignment between a professor and two students expanded into an interpersonal conflict and rumors that damaged the students’ reputations within the department with other…
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Interested in learning more about Restorative Justice?
Victoria University of Wellington is offering a free course through edX titled Restorative Justice and Practice: Emergence of a Social Movement. It is taught by three incredible instructors! For more information, see the video below and enroll here.
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Rotary Global Grant Blog February 2018
February has been a busy and exciting month providing training for the Victoria University Residential Advisors (RAs) in Restorative Practices. The RAs play an important role in the creation of caring and connected communities on campus and in finding ways to respond to wrongdoing that repair rather than punish. To learn more about the Restorative University…
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Rotary Global Grant Blog January 2018
Happy New Year! I welcomed 2018 watching fireworks over the Wellington Harbor and feeling incredibly grateful for both the year past and the year ahead. The highlight of January was a visit from my brother (Eli) that started on January 1st. What a great way to start the year! We took full advantage of a…
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Peace in the Soil
I recently heard Siddhartha Mukherjee speak on an episode of Ted Radio Hour titled Rethinking Medicine. In his talk, Mukherjee notes that the prevailing medical approach (in the western medicine tradition) to this point has been to “have disease, take pill, kill something.” Mukherjee traces the prevalence of this approach to the antibiotic revolution, which…
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The Power of the Talking Piece
During the recent government shut down, a bipartisan group of roughly two-dozen senators helped craft the funding deal to re-open the government. The group used a “talking stick” as a tool to facilitate their meeting, only allowing the senator with the stick to speak in an effort to cut down on interruptions. The use of…
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Rotary Global Grant Blog December 2017
December has been full of beautiful weather and holiday celebration with kind and wonderful people! The Rotary Club of Wellington invited me to their Christmas lunch, where we wore paper crowns from Christmas Crackers and sung Kiwi Christmas carols about sunny celebrations on the beach (see lyrics in photo above). It was a great time…
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A Restorative Worldview
This week, I am busy coding my interviews with restorative justice facilitators and participants (victims an offenders), getting ready for months of major writing deadlines ahead. One questions that I asked all interview participants is “How has being involved in restorative justice affirmed or changed your worldview?” As I review the responses, I’m noticing a…
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What could a restorative approach to politics look like?
It has been a strange and despairing experience to watch the political journey of the United States from afar since moving to New Zealand to study restorative justice in early 2016. People often comment on how glad I must be to have escaped it all and how surely I’m in no rush to go back.…
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What makes a great Restorative Justice Facilitator?
“Good RJ facilitation is shaped by three main factors: (i) a set of core beliefs that form a particular worldview, (ii) specific knowledge and skills that develop with experience, and (iii) ‘synthesis’ which merges art with science so that facilitators can intuitively, consistently and knowingly shape the alchemy of RJ in real-time to successfully meet…
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Rotary Global Grant Blog November 2017
November started with an exciting few days at the Relate Resolve Restore Conflict Resolution Conference in Wellington. The conference brought together restorative justice practitioners and mediators from across New Zealand and abroad to share insights, experiences and skills. Many participants commented on the benefit of “breaking down the silos” between these areas of practice to learn…
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Rotary Global Grant Blog October 2017
October was another exciting and eventful month! I began the month by doing something I had never done before: running a half marathon! My partner and I traveled to Tauranga for the race (he did the full marathon) and enjoyed exploring a new area of the country while tackling the run. My finish time certainly…
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How Can Restorative Justice respond to a case like prostitution that lacks a clear “victim”?
Type of process: Restorative Justice Conference Conference Participants: Responsibly Party –Tori Impacted Party- Kate (roommate) Hall Manager- Cheryl 2 Facilitators Disciplinary Measure Pending: Being evicted from the Residential Hall Referring agent: University Residential Life staff Factual Synopsis: Tori was prostituting herself out of the dorm room she shared with Kate. *Note that in New Zealand prostitution is not illegal,…
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Rotary Global Grant Blog September 2017
During September, my colleague, Haley Farrar, and I delivered a Restorative Justice Facilitator Training for a group of Victoria University staff from across the university. It was a great opportunity to spend three days immersed in the philosophy and implementation of restorative practices with a passionate group of leaders in our community. I look forward…
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Restorative Justice and Shoplifting
Read to the end of this article to learn more about an effective use of Restorative Justice to respond to shoplifting put in place by Longmont Community Justice Partnership. https://qz.com/1076348/a-shoplifting-solution-billed-as-enlightened-was-ruled-to-be-textbook-extortion/
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Rotary Global Grant Blog August 2017
August has been another full and exciting month in Wellington! At the beginning of the month, I competed in Victoria University’s Three Minute Thesis Competition. The Three Minute Thesis competition challenges postgraduate students to explain their thesis research to a non-specialist audience in just 3 minutes. The goal is to clearly outline your research, engage…
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How does restorative justice counter biases?
Over the last couple months, I have started interviewing restorative justice facilitators as part of my research. The insight I have gained from these conversations has been incredible and I look forward to sharing more as I write up my findings. Most of the facilitators I have interviewed are in New Zealand, but I am…
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How do you design a circle process?
For some conflicts and wrongdoings, a traditional restorative justice conference process with clear victim and offender roles may not be appropriate or necessary. Sometimes multiple people are both responsible for harm and have experience harm. For example, at the university, there is a lot of conflict around every day things like a messy shared apartment…
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Rotary Global Grant Blog July 2017
Starting this term, my PhD studies in New Zealand are generously supported by a Rotary Global Grant Scholarship. I am honored and so grateful to have received this support from Rotary. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity, while home in Colorado, to visit a couple of the local clubs to say thank you…
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Restorative Pedagogy
This year, Victoria University has begun offering a Graduate Certificate course in Restorative Justice. Last week, Dr. Tom Noakes-Duncan delivered a fascinating class on Restorative Pedagogy, raising the question, “How should restorative practices be taught?” He introduced the old paradigm of teaching, often referred to as the Transmission Model. The teacher transfers knowledge to the…
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Building a Restorative University Article
An article I wrote about building a Restorative University was recently published in the Australasian Student Residences Management Journal. Check out my article on page 31-32.
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How Can Restorative Justice Improve Relationships and Communication?
Type of process: Community Group Conference Conference Participants: Offender- George Hall Manager- Daisy RA/Impacted Party- Jonathan 2 Facilitators Disciplinary Measure Pending: In the worst case, being evicted from the Residential Hall for assault Referring agent: University Residential Life staff Factual Synopsis: What started as George teasing his RA Jonathan about his outfit escalated when George shoved Jonathan. George…
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The Te Whare Tapa Whā Framework for Understanding Wellbeing
In restorative practices, we talk a lot about needs. When harm is caused through a crime, wrongdoing, or conflict in a community, that harm generates needs. One of the central questions of restorative justice is “What is needed to repair the harms and make things right?” We also see behavior as communicating unmet needs. So…
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Building a Restorative University
Increasingly, restorative justice is being used as a response to discipline issues on college campuses with encouraging results. Research by sociologists David Karp and Casey Sacks has shown that compared to the traditional conduct model, restorative practices result in fewer appeals, less serious reoffending, higher participant satisfaction, and improvement in student learning.[1] It is estimated…
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What can you do when a Restorative Justice Conference isn’t an appropriate response?
Type of process: Connection Circle Conference Participants: Hall Managers- Joy and Ellie Returning RAs- Beth, Sorren, Larry 2 Facilitators Referring agent: University Residential Life staff Narrative: This case began as a restorative justice referral after the Hall Managers (Joy and Ellie) were informed by members of their RAs staff that three of the RAs (Sorren,…
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Mock Restorative Justice Conference
My colleague Haley and I recently created a video of a mock restorative justice conference as a tool for our university trainings. If you are interested in getting a taste of what a restorative justice conference looks like, please check it out. A few things to know before watching: This is an abbreviated version of…
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How Does Restorative Justice Help Offenders Avoid a Downward Spiral?
Type of process: Community Group Conference Conference Participants: Offender- Micah Hall Manager- Lauren RAs/Impacted Parties- John, Paul and Beth 2 Facilitators Disciplinary Measure Pending: Being evicted from the Residential Hall Referring agent: University Residential Life staff Factual Synopsis: While suffering from extreme stress in his school, work, and relationship life, Micah drank to the point of severe intoxication in his…
Lindsey Pointer, PhD 