Restorative justice in the classroom: Lesson 2 class meetings

8-page pdf lesson which “through role-play and discussion, this lesson will help students understand the motives behind offending and re-offending and to develop problem-solving consequences that will help offenders learn a better way to behave. By developing restorative consequences, the classroom community can help the offender repair the harm he/she has caused and discourage the offender from re-offending. Students practice consensus building and explore the consequence-setting aspect of justice circles.”

Restorative justice in the classroom: Lesson 5 the justice circle part 3

8-page pdf lesson which provides “students with an opportunity to learn and practice the facilitation of Justice Circles. After a review of the purpose and process, students role-play scenarios, covering all roles including the role of facilitator. After their role-play experience, students discuss whether the circle would be effective in both healing the victim and helping the offender learn a better way to behave, and explore what could have been done differently to more effectively meet those objectives.”

National evaluation of the restorative justice in schools programme

99-page pdf document which provides the findings of national (England and Wales), “projects [which] spanned a range of different approaches to introducing restorative practices into schools, including restorative justice conferences … the contract to evaluate these initiatives was awarded to Partners in Evaluation, a specialist agency with a multi-ethnic team of researchers and a national reputation for conducting evaluations in the fields of health, education, social exclusion and regeneration.” Includes a literature review, sample pupil and school staff surveys and post-conference interview schedule for perpetrators and aggrieved.

Road to peace, The: A teaching guide on local and global transitional justice

10-chapter teaching guide “that introduces students who have a general knowledge of human rights to the concept of transitional justice. Using the expertise of The Advocates’ human rights monitoring teams, who carried out work in Peru and Sierra Leone, The Advocates for Human Rights has created this teaching guide to be used with ninth grade through adult learners … The Road to Peace, as its title suggests, does not just teach about justice, but seeks to advance justice. The lessons are planned to encourage creative thinking about conflict resolution and restoration of justice, so that students feel empowered to promote justice in their own communities as well as around the world. The Road to Peace teaches about justice on a local and an international scale, asking students to make connections between instances of justice and injustice in their own lives, and in situations where justice has been or is being threatened in other countries … this comprehensive teaching guide introduces students to the concept of transitional justice through:
* Lessons on the root causes of war and conflict
* An overview of human rights and different transitional justice mechanisms
* Mock war crimes tribunal and mock truth commission role plays
* In-depth country case studies
* Individual case studies on human rights abuses
* Investigative tools to study the need for transitional justice in the U.S.
* Skill-building resources on how to apply reconciliation on a local level
* Conflict resolution and peer mediation exercises
* A transitional justice glossary
* Resources for further study and action on peace and justice.” Includes detailed glossary, organizations list and bibliography.

Educational discipline using the principles of restorative justice

15-page pdf article which “shows how restorative justice techniques can be used with students in correctional and alternative education settings. The simple principles of restorative justice are outlined and their suitability for offenders is illustrated through actual prison incidents that have been dealt with using these principles. A protocol is suggested for teachers and administrators who might consider adopting this approach.”

Restorative conferences resource kit

60-page pdf resource kit for presenting restorative conferences which “(involves the gathering of those who have a stake in a particular troublesome situation, to talk together to find ways of making amends) … the purpose of these conferences is to discuss what the problem might be and to pool ideas about what might be most helpful from here, for all concerned, from this pool of ideas should emerge a plan for restoration of the situation… These Conferences offer a helpful step forward by involving a range of participants who both contribute to and are affected by the situation at hand, they promote a spirit of open and direct conversation and add a human touch to the process of addressing transgressions… this Resource Kit represents the culmination of 18 months of work by a group whose links are with restorative justice, Maori protocols, and counsellor training with narrative therapy at the University of Waikato.” Includes bibliography

Addressing off-campus student conduct with restorative justice

Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which introduces a program where “over 200 students … participated in restorative justice, meeting face-to-face with community members, fellow students, and campus staff to resolve their cases at the neighborhood level, the results of their conference agreements include hundreds of hours of service in the neighborhoods affected (picking up litter, tutoring at a gradeschool, volunteering at the local library, serving meals to the homeless, etc.), plus written apologies, verbal apologies to neighborhood boards, outreach and education efforts on campus, and in some cases, self-help such as chemical dependency counseling.”

Making things right: Restorative justice comes to campuses

Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 1, Number 1, (Jan/Feb 2000), discussing the use of restorative justice principles for “creative options to traditional justice systems, options which are flexible enough to allow positive productive responses to a variety of offenses or violations and which also meet the unique needs of the University community.”