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The offspring of restorative justice: Understanding the power of restorative practices in residential communities.

Miller, Stacey
June 4, 2015

Source: (2012) Paper presented at Building a Worldwide Restorative Practices Learning Network. The 15th IIRP World Conference. Bethlehem, PA, 1-3 August 2012.

Without question, restorative practices has its roots in the field of restorative justice. Originating in the 1970s as an accountability tool that allows victims to be heard and offenders to understand their impact, restorative justice is a complement to conventional criminal justice processes, focused on repairing harm, rather than only on punishing offenders. Several decades later many student conduct offices on college campuses adopted restorative justice as a key component to their conduct philosophies and methods of traditional sanctioning; however, there has been a shift to not only focus on repairing harm, but to find ways to proactively build community. At the University of Vermont, the Department of Residential Life has used restorative practices as an innovative community development model to cultivate communities of care and mutual respect. This article explains the connections between restorative justice and restorative practices and will highlight how restorative practices is used in residential environments. (author’s abstract)

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