Category: Articles
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Teaching restorative practices through games: an experiential and relational restorative pedagogy
An article I wrote with Kathleen McGoey on using games to teach restorative practices has been published in the latest issue of the International Journal of Restorative Justice. Finding creative ways to teach restorative practices in a way that is in alignment with restorative values is a passion of mine, so it is a pleasure…
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Restorative practices in residence halls at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
An article I wrote about the use of Restorative Practices in the Residence Halls at Victoria University was just published in Conflict Resolution Quarterly. You can find the full article here.
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If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, How Can We Illustrate Restorative Justice?
The challenge of describing restorative justice and how the philosophy and approach differs from the conventional justice system is one that practitioners and scholars have grappled with since the beginning of the movement. The retributive approach to justice is so culturally ingrained that it can be difficult to fully communicate the restorative paradigm and the…
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Beyond the Carrot and the Stick
What is the best way to promote good, pro-social behavior? Is it rewarding good behavior or punishing bad behavior? The carrot or the stick? This question has been asked across a wide range of contexts from the criminal justice system to schools to workplaces to international relations. Those in authority in each context have tried…
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Sustained Restorative Dialogue – Understanding and Preventing Sexual Harm on Campus
Over the past two years, Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) has taken significant steps towards becoming a Restorative University. This has involved the use of restorative processes both in a reactive way, as a response to misconduct or incidents of harm, and a proactive way, in order to build community, enhance belonging and mutual responsibility,…
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Restorative Practices Can Teach Students How to Handle Difficult Conversations
I recently had a conversation with a few friends about the advice we had received growing up from adults (mostly parents and teachers) when another kid picked on us. The wisdom and guidance we had received varied widely and included among others, “hit him back,” “ignore him” “she is just jealous,” “laugh it off,” “tell…
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How Can We Heal Collective Trauma?
This month, I had the incredible privilege of attending and presenting at the European Forum for Restorative Justice Conference in Tirana, Albania. The conference aims to bridge the gap between researchers, practitioners and policy-makers in the field, and in my view, it was successful in its mission. The vast majority of the plenaries and breakout…
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The Restorative Justice Paradigm Shift
What is “justice”? Take a few moments to think about that question. It is a word we use a lot. “Demand justice.” “Seek justice.” “Justice has been done.” But what do we really mean when we use the word “justice”? Often times, justice is understood as retributive harming: an eye for an eye. In the justice…
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Be Real, Love, Empathize: Insights for Facilitators from Carl Rogers
While restorative justice is not therapy, it often has therapeutic outcomes for participants. Particularly at the pre-conference stage, the facilitator’s role can feel akin to that of a therapist, helping to guide and support clients on their own journey towards healing, learning and growth. This week, I have been reading some of Carl Rogers’ work…
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Video: Mock Restorative Justice Process
Please note that both the pre-conference and the conference processes are significantly shorter than they would be in real life. In real life, each meeting is generally at least twice as long as shown, giving the opportunity to ask additional questions to dive deeper into the incident, impacts and needs. In real life, participants would also…
Lindsey Pointer, Ph.D. 