The National Center on Restorative Justice’s inaugural institute on the topic of restorative approaches to policing. Structured as a virtual “think tank,” we invited restorative justice and policing experts from across the United States who use restorative approaches in policing in a variety of models to participate. These experts included police leaders, restorative justice nonprofit partners, and academics with a specialty in restorative approaches in policing. Participants identified the most pressing issues and questions nationally related to policing to help shape the following institute. From this inaugural institute, we produced a restorative policing reference list that links research, approach outlines,…

The National Center on Restorative Justice and the Center for Justice Reform at Vermont Law School hosted our first Visiting Scholar, Dr. Brunilda Pali from Belgium. Dr. Pali is a Senior Researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium) and a Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). During her visit, Dr. Pali gave this public seminar and met with VLS students, as well as members of the VLS environmental law faculty. You can watch the seminar here.

The second event in the National Center on Restorative Justice 2021 institute series on Restorative Approaches to Policing. This public institute was attended virtually by over 300 participants and included live-streamed keynote and panel presentations, break-out sessions for discussion, and skills-based workshops. Three key models of restorative justice in policing were featured: Police-nonprofit partnerships that enable police to directly refer cases to restorative justice programs; Police-community dialogues to rebuild trust in law enforcement; Restorative practices by police to take responsibility for current and historical harm caused by their departments. You can watch videos of the institute here. You can read…

For International RJ Week, the National Center on Restorative Justice issued a call to artists and restorative justice advocates to creatively represent a restorative approach to justice-making or to advance public understanding and implementation of restorative justice through art. We accepted art in all mediums. You can view the art gallery here.

For the first event in the National Center on Restorative Justice’s institute series on Restorative Reintegration, we hosted a think tank of 25 experts, including academics and practitioners with expertise in restorative justice approaches to reentry after incarceration. Participants met in restorative dialogue to specifically discuss and identify the core principles and practices of “restorative reintegration.” Our team members who attended are currently collaborating on writing a white paper as a follow-up to the event, identifying and outlining core elements of restorative reintegration. Learn more here.

For the second event in the National Center on Restorative Justice institute series on Restorative Reintegration, a group of courageous individuals came together for the first time to share their empowering messages of hope in finding success through restorative reintegration after incarceration. “Restoring Humanity” was the culmination of a 90-day speaker training experience delivered by Amplify Voices. This event was a partnership with the University of San Diego, and the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Learn more here.

This session will introduce participants to the key principles of restorative justice, an alternative response to crime that focuses on understanding the needs that led to an offense, the impacts of the crime on the victim and wider community, and on forming a plan to repair the harm caused to the degree possible. Restorative justice approaches promote accountability and help facilitate greater understanding and healing. The panel will feature representatives from community restorative justice programs who will discuss their programs, how they interact with the criminal justice system, and outcomes relevant to community violence prevention and intervention. Presenters will share…