Tag: restorative justice

A Call for Restorative Justice

Pre-Mathematics by Bernard Hosey

Restorative Justice (RJ) is an evidence-based practice whose time has not only come, but it is abundantly clear that our entire planet could use a justice reset. RJ is based upon reconciliation, where criminal and inappropriate actions are first viewed as a violation of people and relationships, and not just a violation of social norms and law. Key to the RJ approach is understanding that punitive “treatment” or forced submission in an offender does not produce any increased probability that the offender will engage in appropriate behavior in the future. Actually, such “treatment” is likely to increase resentment in the offender which may lead to future aggression. Only punishing an offender can further damage a fragile relationship between individuals, leaving the survivor(s) with unresolved hurt and suffering.

RJ is a process with trained mediators where the desired focus is upon dialogue between offenders and survivors. Notice that the language for RJ practice is different from the predominant descriptions of perpetrators and victims. This language difference moves away from courtroom apology attempts to actual accountability with an emphasis on repairing harm where possible. Prison time may follow serious infractions, but an accompanying RJ approach allows each person’s history or herstory to be shared in an unhurried and safe environment. Other family or community members, also affected by the harm of the offender, might participate in a RJ peace circle. The opportunity for truth-telling accountability, healing, and prevention of further conflict are desired outcomes.

Circles can also support survivors and work with individuals who are responsible for harm separately. Extensive preparation occurs before bringing together someone impacted and someone responsible for harm for a joint circle, and that only happens when everyone agrees to participate.

Schools are an excellent beginning place to hold RJ peace circles. Instead of treating an offending student with outdated discipline of in-school/out-of-school suspensions, RJ intervention might include teacher, coach, or hall monitor voices, along with the offender and survivor, in a peace circle with a Circle Keeper. If you consider that Black students are referred for “suspensions” (and/or school expulsion) about 3 times more frequently than white students, you begin to link this discriminatory pattern to similar lopsided numbers in prison populations. Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at 5 times the rate of white Americans.

Who listens to the stories of youth who may have been survivors in their homes and/or communities before they became offenders at school? Many students feel unsafe at an early age. This is a beginning time to intervene with reconciliation that promotes accountability.

Bernard Hosey’s rusted steel sculpture in a sphere of twisted V shapes and curved arcs is described as “a relic from an ancient civilization or a blueprint for intersteller travel.” The title, Pre-Mathematics, recognizes that there is an origin for everything. This notion when applied to human aggressive behaviors — including lethal behavior like family or societal war — addresses causes that came before a current provocative cause. Aggression and violence erupt out of a lineup of causes. When will we take the time to address the causes proactively that came before the straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back cause?  

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

490. Who are you when you feel safe?

491. Who are you when you feel unsafe?    

Everyone Needs SEL

Francesco Carta fotografo/Getty Images

March 2nd is SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Day 2026. This annual celebration highlights the many positive benefits of SEL immersion in all aspects of life. SEL Day is an international event that takes place during the first week of March each year with 88 countries onboard. The U.S. Senate introduced SEL Week in 2023 with a bipartisan resolution by Senators Susan Collins and Dick Durbin. The 2026 theme posts as “Skills for Community, Skills for Career.”

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a proactive set of skills for children (and adults) to focus on mental health and well-being. The skills incorporate developing self-awareness, coping with emotions, setting and achieving positive goals, understanding and practicing empathy for others, building relationship competence, and making responsible decisions. An increasing need is for families, educators, business leaders, and whole communities to work together to promote SEL among students, our future leaders. A boost in academic learning is only one of the winners with such a systemic effort. SEL encompasses restorative justice, workforce readiness, and cultivating a lifelong growth mindset.

Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) set the stage for understanding one’s historical-cultural influence in their learning. He stressed the importance of one’s social environment – the attitudes and interactions – that each child is exposed to from their earliest years. His zone of proximal development espoused guiding children through a task rather than expecting them to work in isolation. He was a proponent of social negotiation as an essential step in a student’s mastery of concepts. Rather than traditional memorization methods, Vygotsky advocated a model of teacher-student questioning, clarifying, and predicting in a collaborative process.

The theory of scaffolding was applied to psychological arenas by cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner in the late 1950’s. He used the construction term to outline young children’s oral language acquisition. Bruner’s principles also spotlighted social interactional support for students in learning new concepts; he believed that the temporary scaffolding could be removed, similar to construction scaffolding, when the support is no longer needed.

Building upon Vygotsky’s and Bruner’s thinking, school scaffolding in social and emotional learning (SEL) incorporates modeling, prompting and coaching by school staff. Emotional and social skills are introduced in a stepwise progression with the goal of gradually removing support as students exhibit competence and independence. This approach also applies to academics and athletics. 

It is a good idea to focus on scaffolding of children’s development of SEL. How might such scaffolding apply to adults who missed out on SEL in their schooling? This seems like our biggest challenge. In President Barack Obama’s words, “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.”

SEL peer modeling, prompting and coaching for adults needs to be part of National SEL Week.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

476. When do you use empathy?

477. What will you do to incorporate SEL for yourself this week?