Rainier Harris Nicole Cardoza Rainier Harris Nicole Cardoza

Support restorative justice in schools.

Restorative justice is an approach to resolve conflict that “repairs the harm caused by a crime” (Centre for Justice and Reconciliation). It differs from enacting a reactionary approach to crime by simply applying some kind of punitive measures that, in schools, would look like detention, suspension, or expulsion. Instead, restorative justice tries to address the root of the harm via collaboration between offender and victim in circles and moderated discussions.

It's Monday and we're continuing our reporting on making education more equitable, a growing initiative as cities across the U.S. analyze the relationship between schools and the criminal justice system. Rainier, a writer and high school senior, encourages us to support restorative justice in our local school systems – and why it's critical to this work.
 
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TAKE ACTION

  • Facilitate conversation within your school community between offender and victim by moderating discussions.

  • Encourage transparency in the way your school handles disciplinary measures.

  • Petition to have student involvement in their school’s disciplinary decisions.

GET EDUCATED

By Rainier Harris (he/him)

Restorative justice is an approach to resolve conflict that “repairs the harm caused by a crime” (Centre for Justice and Reconciliation). It differs from enacting a reactionary approach to crime by simply applying some kind of punitive measures that, in schools, would look like detention, suspension, or expulsion. Instead, restorative justice tries to address the root of the harm via collaboration between offender and victim in circles and moderated discussions. 

 

Restorative justice is typically looked at through the lens of the criminal justice system, but it can help school communities as well. As school reconvenes and race becomes a discussion topic for classes across the country, people are bound to get some things wrong. Race is an extremely complex, abstract, intricate subject, and it is difficult to “get it right” the first time you talk about it. 

 

As these mistakes arise, it is essential that school communities do not take a purely punitive approach to the offenders but instead allow everyone ample space to grow and learn. This does not mean that people who use well-known slurs such as the n-word should be treated tenderly. Restorative justice comes with the basic assumption that everybody has good intentions and means no harm. But, it also implies that they have basic knowledge at a certain age of what is outright inappropriate and unacceptable.

 

There are several restorative justice practices to implement within school communities, such as facilitation between offender and victim, peer mediation in conflict resolution centers, hosting dialogue circles, and student integration following suspension. 

 

For restorative justice to work, it requires students to trust the process, or else it can wield shaky results (Hechinger Report). Restorative justice allows everyone within the community to be held accountable amongst each other. But that can only happen if people are not forced to participate and willingly partake in it. 

 

In peer mediation circles, students who may get into a fight, for example, “talk it out” amongst each other in hopes of intervening before the issue turns into an even bigger problem (NPR). In dialogue circles, students sit in a large circular shape facing one another. Here, they can check-in with each other, settle minor disputes, and perhaps even hold academic interventions (Edutopia). Even after a student has done a suspendable offense, restorative justice can allow for integration through hosting circles with parents, school administrators, and the student to find the best path forward in the school (Christian Science Monitor).

 

In restorative justice, people are allowed to make mistakes without racist sentiments percolating. How effectively restorative justice applies is largely predicated on the intentions of the student. While the student’s true intentions may never be known, you can get a more holistic view of the student by including peers, teachers, parents, and administrators in the decision, not just administrators handing down a punishment onto the student. 

 

“Did the student know what they said was racist? What was the context in which they said it, and how can that be misconstrued? Did they apologize?” These are the serious questions that schools can use to assess a student’s intentions. 

 

Restorative justice has also been proven to prevent students from falling into the school-to-prison pipeline (The Praxis Project). Teachers also benefit from restorative justice as it has been proven to improve the behavior in the classroom dramatically (We Are Teachers).

 

Especially now in the middle of a pandemic, unemployment spiking, and remote learning, restorative justice is needed more than ever. Schools don’t know what is going on in a student’s home and if expulsion might make it infeasible for them to pay for another school in time. Additionally, the emotional burden the pandemic has brought on all of us may bring added stress and increase our capabilities to slip-up and make mistakes.

 

Most essentially, restorative justice addresses the roots of the harm, making it less likely for the same thing to happen again. It brings us all to a greater understanding of not just what was harmful, but why it was – and what can we do better. It forces us to look introspectively at our roles in our environment and evaluate how we can be better within that space.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Restorative justice is a more productive approach to resolving community issues and disagreements than punitive measures.

  • People have to willingly participate in restorative justice practices in order for it to work.

  • The same restorative justice practices must apply to everyone to hold the entire community accountability.

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