Restorative Justice – Schools & Families
Kris Miner

5/11/2009 2

•TV News reporter
•In home family
therapist
•Private Practice
•SED clients
•Juvenile Jusitice
•JJ & child protection
•Non-profit ED
•UWRF Adjunct
•Blogger
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 Professional role model
 Restorative Justice Principles
 School-Based Restorative Justice
 School Applications
 Research & Outcomes
 SEL, Academic Success & RJ
 The “system”, the family and the school
psychologist.
 Answers!
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– touching the heart
Inspire
Spark creativity & passion
Vision for yourself and future
Meaningful connection to
your profession & goals!
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“Restorative justice is a process to involve, to
the extent possible, those who have a stake in a
specific offense and to collectively identify and
address harms, needs, and obligations, in order
to heal and put things as right as possible.”
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Victims
Offenders
Community
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Good Books Publishing
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for all involved
respect
in deeper values
rooted
worth of all people
equal
appreciation for diversity
belief in interconnectedness
Problem Solving/Empowering
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Good Books Publishing
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is Harm
Crime
Repairing Relationships
 Building Community
„Making Things Right‟
A Process of Healing
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The Restorative Justice
Movement is grounded in
values that promote both
accountability and healing for
all affected by crime.
-Mark Umbreit, U of M Center for and Restorative
Justice Peacemaking
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We share basic humanity.

Repair Harm
Dealing with Healing
Every Saint has a Past,
Every Sinner has a Future
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that you caused
Acknowledging
harm
the harm from
Understanding
other viewpoints
Recognizing that you had a choice
Taking steps to make amends
Taking action to change
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what thwarts your
Addressing
good
the Harm
Honoring
full Circle or around the
Coming
spiral
towards wholeness
Working
Becoming a better person
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2
4
with

 Restorative Justice reduces conflict
 Prevents wrong doing
 Increases safety – physically and emotionally
 Results of 70‟s tough on crime and Zero
Tolerance
 Around the world – schools are moving to
Restorative Practices

Good relationships need to be at the
heart of everything a school does if
effective teaching and learning are to
take place.
Between Students, Students & Teachers, Teachers &
Teachers, Teachers & Parents, Parents &
Administration
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The more you know about
someone the less likely you are
to hurt them.
Exclusion is a form of violence.
Punishment does not work.
Gilligan, Garbino, Dr. Joel
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 Participate as citizens
 Decision making experience
 Interaction with peers
 A sense of belonging
 Reflect on self
 Formation of a Value System
 Identity development
 Feelings of accountability & equality
 Cultivate a capacity to enjoy life
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 Based on a system of punishment and reward
 Not typically used as a teaching tool
 Makes the school culture adversarial
 Tends to support labeling of students: bad and
good kids
 Bandage approach with few lasting effects
 Victims get little from the process
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 Based on a system of punishment and reward
 Not typically used as a teaching tool
 Makes the school culture adversarial
 Tends to support labeling of students: bad and
good kids
 Bandage approach with few lasting effects
 Victims get little from the process
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Zero Evidence of Zero Tolerance
working.
B. Morrison
ABA & the APA
Chicago Public Schools
-Summer „07
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 Harm is serious  Harm is serious
 Specific uniform  Variety of
consequences consequences
 Detention, isolation,  Situation &
expulsion circumstance
 Based on rules  More fair than
equitable
 More equitable than
fair  Spirit & intent of the
law
 Letter of the law
 Education part of the
 Education part of the
consequence
consequence
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 True discipline problems need to be addressed
 Individual responses & common sense
 Contravene ABA anti-discrimination policies
 Costs outweigh Benefit – keeping a child in school
may reduce entry into a career criminal lifestyle

 Cooperative, supports community building,
culture of mutual respect
 Focus is on the behavior as a bad choice,
not the student as a bad person
 Restorative measures used as primary,
traditional still available as last resort
 Gives misbehavior a context, the students
see how their actions affect others
 Reduces the amount of time spent on
disciplinary action because the root of the
problem is dealt with
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 Recognizes the purposes of misbehavior
 Addresses the needs of those harmed
 Works to put right the harm
 Aims to improve the future
 Seeks to heal
 Uses collaborative processes
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Wrongdoing
_________________________________________
error malice
lack of skill or ability

It‟s relationships, not programs
that change children . . .
Young people thrive when
adults care about them on a
one-to-one level, and when
they have a sense of belonging
to a caring community.
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 Emotional Literacy
 Addressing bullying behaviours
 Reducing staff turnover and burnout
 Raising morale and self-esteem
 Culture of inclusion and belonging
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 Happier and safer schools
 Mutually respectful relationships
 More effective teaching and learning
 Reducing exclusion
 Raising attendance
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to a Balance
Return
Restore Harmony
Make things Right
Plan for the future
Teaches self-governing
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In relationships we are
broken and in
relationships we are
healed.
Judge Ed Wilson
Rondo to Rwanda
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Best
Today?
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1/4th
2/3rds
1/9th

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Circles are based
on values
Safer than Usual Space

responsibility
Equals
Harming Others, harm
yourself
Awareness of this
responsibility creates our
value system.
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& ways of behaving
Goals
despite objects or situation.
Standards & Principles that
guide our actions.
Should do, rather than want
or have to.
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us to live by and others
For
A shared concept of society
Internalized & stable
Used to evaluate ourselves &
others
The internal sanctioning
system
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Empathy\"… to understand another
person's point of view, emotions,
thoughts, feelings
Empathy is the most important
characteristic in human
relationships.
*Center for Social and Emotional Education
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leads to stealing, drug
Lack
dealing, rape & murder (Oakwood
Solutions, LLC)
neglect,
Barriers-emotional
stress, genetics
Improves School Performance,
Self-Awareness, Relationships
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 Be Genuine and Be ethical
 Advocate for the best interests
 Never stop learning
 All relationships are bilateral
 You are going to get burned
 Build relationships with outside agencies
 Take care of yourself

Listening
Compassionate
Non-violent Communication
Anger Management
Conflict Transformation
Dealing with difficult situations
Restorative de-briefing &
reflective practice
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Affective Affective Small Circle
Conference
Statement Questions Conference
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 Respect – for all involved
 Humility – trust the process, honor equality
 Compassion – empathy in action
 Spirituality (wholeness of person/oneness of
circle, moving from conflict to healing &
understanding)
 Honesty (important for accountability &
trust)
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 Who has been hurt?
 What are their needs?
 Whose obligations are these?
 Who has a stake in this situation?
 What is the appropriate process to involve
stakeholders in an effort to put things right?
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 What happened?
 What were you thinking?
 How were you feeling?
 Who else has been affected by this?
 What do you need now so that the harm can be
repaired ?

In school suspensions
 ‟01 61 suspensions a month all year long
 ‟02 13 suspensions a month (first 3 months)
Last Quarter First Q
97 Noise or swearing 40
54 off task 20
10 inappropriate physical contact 1

 15% drop in suspensions
(other schools increased)
 Averted 2 expulsions
 93% of students participated
 90% new skills, 86% used those
 1 Elem/3 MS/1 HS saved Lansing students
1,500 days of suspension.

Issue – students report before after
students will make fun of 70 % 29%
you
You get picked on 49% 16%
experienced theft 47% 24%
Wrecked property incident 31% 8%