Source: (2011) Revisioning Justice. Restorative Justice Week 2011. Correctional Services Canada.
Our work in RJ demands a skill that both
transcends and includes our direct engagement
with participants. Beyond facilitating dialogue
in the aftermath of harm, RJ practitioners have
the implicit role of facilitating a gradual, collective re-visioning of justice in society. As we
look up from our immediate work to the larger
conversations that form our social and political
environment, we observe that to practice RJ is
to engage with the retributive and adversarial
frames of justice that constitute the status quo.
Whether we wish it or not, our work brings us
into dialogue with the people who by their views
uphold an apparently different conception of
justice. The stance we take in engaging with
the deep-seated impulse towards punishment
is of vital importance. It will be paramount to the
success of our attempts at re-visioning justice in
accordance with restorative values. (excerpt)
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