Karin Higgins, LCJP's board president and volunteer facilitator, shared this reflection about what makes restorative justice transformative. Even though she wrote this almost a year ago, these themes seem more pertinent today than ever before. 

Restorative Justice is an Invitation to Community

As an LCJP volunteer, it is my job to extend an invitation and create safety for people to explore a new relationship with community, with authority, and even with each other.

I went to meet with a family in their meticulous trailer home. They had no idea what to think, what would happen to their son. Concerns about their entire family’s future and safety hung thick in the air. What should they expect from me, a representative of government authority?

As the evening progressed and they were treated with interest, compassion and respect, they became increasingly and thoughtfully engaged. Our dialogue invited parents and son to participate constructively in creating repair to the harms that had occurred to each of them and the community. A process where all voices were valued equally was new and unexpected.

Restorative Justice Upholds the Right to Self-Determination

As a restorative justice facilitator, it is my job to be detached from expectation or outcome, and recognize that whatever choices this family makes and how they choose to integrate the experience is up to them individually and collectively.

We can set up and prepare the best possible opportunity to support individual insight, but we must be willing to do our best and move on without mandating that satisfaction has occurred. It is wonderful to learn a case has been closed because the contract was completed, but that is ultimately beyond our control, and really not the truest measure of success.

Each person comes to restorative justice as a voluntary participant. Accountability is chosen, not imposed or implied. We are all asked simply to commit to honor the dignity of self and others. That dignity holds the seeds of respect, which grows organically throughout the experience.

Restorative Justice Builds a Foundation of Trust

Through my role with LCJP, I am reminded again and again that no one is simply an emblem of a larger problem but is rather someone who is doing their best to live as well as possible.

Once we were in the restorative justice conference and the family heard police officers and strangers giving voice to the needs of and harms to the community, the circle of trust grew. Sharing what is real with commitment to healing harms to all involved is alive with transformative potential for everyone
present. 

Here is the opportunity to meet each other compassionately, with the highest collective good as our shared objective. 

Thanks to volunteers like Karin and LCJP supporters like you, we have been able to transform moments of fear and separation into experiences of inclusion and welcome. 

Please consider becoming part of this important work by donating today!

[Compass of Self-Determination in Restorative Justice sketch by Abigail Jean]