Introduction to restorative justice colloquy

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21243
• Author: Toran Hansen
• Date: 01 December 2018
• Published date: 01 December 2018

GUEST EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

Introduction to restorative justice colloquy

Toran Hansen PhD

Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution, Salisbury University, Camden, Maryland

Correspondence

Toran Hansen, Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution, Salisbury University, Camden, Maryland.

Email: tjhansen@salisbury.edu

Restorative justice has many points of origin. A specific event that created the momentum to propel

restorative justice to become the field of practice and scholarship that it is today was the initiation of

what came to be known as the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in Elmira, Ontario,

in 1974. The Mennonite Central Committee had a strong influence on this experiment, which had

implications that went well beyond the specific crimes that were addressed. One of the two original

participating offenders recounted much later in life that, “on that day, my life changed forever as I

managed to overcome the challenges of a punitive society and turn my life around. Meeting my vic-

tims taught me a valuable lesson in humanity and I've never damaged anyone's property after.”

(Morrison, 2013, p. 205). VORP created the basis for envisioning a more relational and humane form

of justice, getting away from the more retributive approach to justice that had come to dominate crim-

inal justice systems around the world. This resonated with those working in the criminal justice sys-

tem, who felt that something important was missing and the results of the system were often

disappointing. This inclination was likewise felt by the survivors of those crimes, who were margin-

alized by the justice system, and many people who were convicted of crimes, who believed that the

justice system had failed them too. This was the birth of the restorative justice movement, although

the philosophy and theory underlying restorative justice have been present in all cultures, if one

explores their roots deeply enough (Umbreit et al., 2005). The diverse cultural origins of restorative

justice are evidenced most obviously by the restorative practices of family group conferencing, which

grew out of Maori traditions in New Zealand, and peacemaking circles, which emerged from First

Nations practices in Canada.

This Colloquy represents a kind of celebration of the expansion of restorative justice into what

we have come to know it as today. It is based on a set of theoretical propositions that were first artic-

ulated by Howard Zehr in his seminal work Changing Lenses (Zehr, 1990). This body of theory illus-

trated that wrongdoing could be effectively addressed by those who were most directly impacted by

it, by addressing their needs, restoring people and relationships, and “making things right.”However,

for many practitioners of restorative justice, these aren't just theoretical propositions but a philosophi-

cal approach, which has broader implications for life, relationships, and communities. Seen in this

way, restorative justice provides guidance for fostering “right relationships”and peaceful values in

our relationships and day-to-day life in communities where it is clear that people are fundamentally

interconnected with one another. Restorative justice suggests that crime and other forms of

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21243

© 2018 Association for Conflict Resolution and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2018;36:95–97. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq 95