Staff-Training
Week 1: Restorative Justice Introduction
Read:
Practice/Reflection:
- In your own words, define restorative justice.
- What are the three pillars of restorative justice laid out by Zehr, and what is your role in supporting them?
- Does your role play a part in any restorative justice practices currently? If so, explain. If not, how could it?
- How does criminal justice differ from restorative justice?
Week 2: Becoming Aware of the Harmed and Responsible Parties Pt. I
Read:
Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and A Road to Repair by Danielle Sered
Practice/Reflection:- In what ways does the current criminal justice system leave harmed parties out? In what ways can their voices be heard?
- What are the key elements of accountability? How does each party benefit from accountability?
- What are you held accountable for in your role?
- How does mass incarceration fail to address violence?
Week 3: Becoming Aware of the Harmed and Responsible Parties Pt. II
Read:
Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons by Robin Levi and Ayelet Waldman (at least 4 Narratives)
Practice/Reflection
- Describe a narrative in the text which affected you the most.
- In what ways do current practices in prisons prohibit restorative justice practices to occur?
- How can you hold yourself and your contemporaries accountable for inhumane practices against those imprisoned?
- Why are these narratives key when trying to understand the lives of responsible parties? How does this relate to restorative justice?
Week 4: Working Together
Watch:
- Attend one Victim-Offender Mediation
- Sit in on a Victim-Offender Mediation, observe what is happening, listen to both sides of the offense.
- Things to consider:
- How does this mediation process aid in restorative justice practices?
- Was accountability emphasized? By whom?
- Was there “right” made? Through what means?
- Things to consider:
- Sit in on a Victim-Offender Mediation, observe what is happening, listen to both sides of the offense.
- Participate in a Victim-Staff Mediation
- You will participate in a Victim-Staff Mediation. This will emphasize the role in which you have to the harmed party and how you can aid each other in understanding the process of their case.
- Things to consider:
- How can you help in the means of your role?
- How can they help you understand your role in maintaining restorative justice?
- Things to consider:
- You will participate in a Victim-Staff Mediation. This will emphasize the role in which you have to the harmed party and how you can aid each other in understanding the process of their case.
- Participate in an Offender-Staff Mediation
- You will participate in an Offender-Staff Mediation. This will emphasize the role in which you have to the responsible party. It will also allow you to aid each other in understanding the means to which they came to causing harm.
- Things to consider:
- How can you help in the means of your role?
- How can they help you understand your role in maintaining restorative justice?
- Things to consider:
- You will participate in an Offender-Staff Mediation. This will emphasize the role in which you have to the responsible party. It will also allow you to aid each other in understanding the means to which they came to causing harm.
