On safe spaces

In the fall of 1963, as a relatively naïve 19-year-old, I left my largely white environment and entered my sophomore year at Morehouse College, an historically Black college. I had prepared the best I knew how by reading mostly African American writers, especially novelists, and through conversations with people such as Dr. Vincent Harding. These....

How do we encourage good restorative justice practice?

This guest blog, by Matthew Hartman and Fred Perloff, was first published in the RJCO Quarterly and then appeared on the Justice Outcomes website.  Matthew is a CJP graduate. In May 2015, the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice organized and facilitated a “Restorative Justice Consultation” in Harrisonburg, VA. This was a gathering of 35 restorative justice practitioners....

Kindred spirits: restorative justice and permaculture

Guest blog by Jonathan McRay A Liberation Ecology Peacebuilding and sustainability often treat one another with suspicion. Both fields obscure the unbreakable lifeline between them with oversimplified arguments like social justice versus the environment, jobs versus nature preserves. Artificial distinctions between people and planet are dangerously misleading because our lives and all their conflict and....

Jails aren’t the problem

As is the case in many communities, our jail is full.  (“Overcrowded” is the usual term, but how can something be “over” crowded? It’s crowded, or it’s not).  Although a study is being conducted, the company doing the study is an architectural firm, so it seems inevitable that a new jail will be recommended. In this interview....

Restorative justice in education – possibilities, but also concerns

The following is a guest blog post by our colleague in the EMU Education Department, Kathy Evans. There is a great deal of momentum right now for implementing restorative justice in education. This makes me incredibly excited – and a bit nervous. Let’s start with the good news! RJ is gaining lots of attention in....

Reflections on reconciliation and forgiveness

The following is a guest blog post by CJP graduate Sanjay Pulipaka.  A short bio can be found at the end. Often Truth and Reconciliation Commissions have been initiated as a response to mass violence. It is interesting to note that the phrase “reconciliation commission” is used in responses to mass violence but not ‘forgiveness commission.”....