Proactively Responsive Circles

Its most commonly known definition was provided by Marshall in 1996, that describes restorative justice as a process where both parties; victims and offenders, work together to restore, resolve and deal with the after effects of the offence and future ramifications (as cited in Van Camp & Wemmers, 2013). The concept of restorative justice originally derived from various indigenous and pre-industrial western justice practices, however, in the 1970's it begun to appear in modern times and was then developed as a reference to describe victim-offender programs that were developed in North America (Strang, 2001). Restorative Justice approaches spread across the world in the 1990's, where many countries such as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, began introducing these approaches as alternatives in their criminal justice systems (Braithwaite, 1999). The concept of restorative justice usually involves victim and offender direct participation and is conducted in the form of conferences or mediation. This is where both parties; the victims and offenders, come together fact-to-face in one location, alongside a facilitator, police and support people, and work out together the consequences of the offenders actions and the

Fagliano, S. (2008, May 19). How Victim-Offender Mediation Impacts Juvenile Offenders. Retrieved from Stanford.edu: http://web.stanford.edu/dept/URBS/programs/documents/faglianothesis.pdf

The DTR Classroom Flow Chart, and the Restorative Justice and the Nine DTR Principles have powerful information and tools to manage conflict, and they present some similarities and differences. Restorative Justice (RJ) and the DTR Principles are alike as they recognize that the primary victims are the most impacted by the event . They see the crime or misbehavior as an offense against human relationships and respond to it at the earliest point possible with the maximum amount of cooperation, recognizing in the situation a teachable moment, and the danger and opportunity that the offense offers as well. As a result, they focus on making things as right as possible. When cooperation is not reached, RJ and

Conferencing also benefit the victim by giving them the opportunity to negotiate an agreement to repair the harm as well as allowing them to tell the offender directly the effects the crime had on them.

Restorative practice provides the framework in repairing damaged relationships, especially those that have been affected through bullying. Through this method, both the offender and victim bring a sense of closure on the part of restoration action and forgiveness respectively.

The attendees include probation officers, police officer, principals, teachers and counselors. Each facilitator will attend the restorative justice conference. According to Julie at the conference for restorative justice attendees saw connections and the ability to support one another with conferencing. The volunteers said, ‘I would come to your school and run a conference if you wanted someone absolutely outside the direct community of the school to do that.

I agree with the authors, “It is precisely through information of these kinds of social activities that we identify funds of knowledge that can be used in the classroom to help improve academic development” (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005, Pg. 80). We start teaching at the beginning of the school year holding biases towards certain students. Sometimes we heard in the office or teacher lounge that student XYZ is a “nightmare”, we are scared of those students because we are afraid they will ruin our classroom environment. This was my mentality when I first stepped into a classroom as a tutor.

The purpose of the restorative justice involves three basic goals: reestablishing the victims, reuniting offenders to the community, and helping to heal the community (Goodstein, and Butterfield, 2010). After being charged with an offense, the offender will always have that label on them and how everyone acts towards the offender will change. Restorative justice practices gives the offender a chance to change their outlook on life after being charged. These type of practices involve repairing and restoring relationships. Victims have the chance to come face-to-face with their offenders which could possibly lead to closure.

After hearing from all parties involved in the conflict, participants are sometimes able to come up with a resolution for the problem they are facing

encourage a young person to acknowledge and repair the harm caused to the victim and the community;

Circles are sometimes called “peacemaking circles,” “repair of harm circles,” and “sentencing circles. Victim-offender dialogue is a variation of victim-offender mediation. It is used in crimes of severe cultivation and is mediation, social engagement, conscious parenting, unhygienic healing, or intimacy with

They discuss the crime and what impact it has had on both the victim and the offender. Restorative process consists of individuals who give support to the offender and the victim during their conversation. There are mediators which help the victim and the offender in the discussion of the impact of the crime and try to help resolve any issues. This process is generally separated into three different portions; these are the preparation for the pre-conference, the conference, and the follow up conference.

Victim offender mediation works to bring conflicting parties together to engage in speaking and hopefully negotiating a mutually agreeable solution (Dhami, 2016). Research shows that the most common outcome of victim offender mediation is an apology and is often expected by the parties (Dhami, 2016). Victims may decide on the mediation process to teach the offender a lesson in accountability. During the process, typically the offender is required to admit responsibility, acknowledge harm, express remorse, promise they will not do the offense again, and offer some form of restitution (Dhami, 2016).

This “coming together” may be one single event or may occur through a series of meetings, depending on the case. The mediator is trained with skills to prepare people for the process, and is there to ensure it progresses in a safe and civilized manner. The goals of the meetings are ensuring the satisfaction and well-being of the victim, with attention to his/her emotional needs, resolution of any lingering conflict between the victim and offender, and giving the offender a chance to absolve their feelings of guilt through apology and reparation. Looking toward the future, other steps taken at the proceeding are taking on offenders reasons for the crime, making a rehab plan, and the families agreement on a system of support to ensure the offender will adhere to the plan.

During this type of healing circle, the offence will be discussed as well as how it affected the victim and the community and the relationship between them and the offender (Justice Education Society, 2016). Not only does the circle attempt to heal community ties, the circle also focuses on the offender and the fundamental causes of their offence (Justice Education Society, 2016). Following a healing circle that is directed towards offenders and victims, a consensus is taken to decide the subsequent steps that should be taken by the offender to correct the harms caused by their actions (Justice Education Society, 2016). These steps could include specialized counseling or treatment programs, community work service, potlatch or other traditional remedies, direct restitution to the victim or community and in some cases, unique and creative solutions emerge (Justice Education Society, 2016).