This piece from Governing on restorative justice programs by Carl Smith mentions the NCORJ, the Center for Justice Reform at NCORJ Partner Vermont Law School, and features a quote from NCORJ’s Stephanie Clark.

“Stephanie Clark is the director of the Center for Justice Reform at the Vermont Law School. She describes an exercise she does with students.

“I’ll ask them what they think of when they think of criminal justice,” she says. “I get all kinds of answers – jail, courtroom, judge, attorney.”

When she asks them what “justice” means to them, she observes, “You’ll get all these other words that we don’t ever associate with the criminal justice system – things like equity, fairness, inclusion, transformation, support.”

Clark and her colleagues are working to bring criminal justice into alignment with these concepts. Vermont Law School established the nation’s first law school-based Master of Arts program in restorative justice, and in partnership with the University of San Diego, the University of Vermont and the U.S. Office of Justice Programs it hosts the National Center on Restorative Justice to advance education, training and research in restorative justice principles.”