Restorative Justice in Schools

Don't forget to check out Matthew's post too: 1984: The Musical (What I've Learned)

I'm sure a lot of us heard about the fight at Urbana High School that happened not too long ago. Some members of the community thought that the violence was because of the school's too-lenient "restorative justice" policies. Regardless of whether this perspective is accurate, it's true that restorative justice needs to be employed with thought and care at school.

Restorative justice: a system of criminal justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.

Contrary to what you might have heard, restorative justice does not mean students don't experience consequences. As one teacher has written (see link at end of post), "A helpful guiding principle is that consequences should always be educational in nature rather than punitive." Rather than, for example, suspend a student when they break a rule, the school would facilitate a conversation between the harmed and the student so that they understand each other and the student can be given a meaningful, purposeful consequence.

Easier said than done, is some people's first thought. But it's being done. Here are some of the goals and strategies employed at schools that practice restorative justice:
  • Create a community with clearly defined values, require students to participate in the community, teach the values, and enforce the values.
  • Peer Court: a student advocate interviews the disciplined student, then presents their 'case' to a trained peer court. Other people involved in the situation are interviewed as well. The court then decides on an "alternative consequence plan" (e.g. tutoring, hours spent in a leadership class, serving time on the peer court jury). Everyone gets the chance to tell their side of the story, and the harmed/the victims get a say in the consequences.
    • "We've seen this process help students understand the wide net their actions cast. This process allows students to accept responsibility and gives students an action plan to move forward productively instead of continuing to repeat the cycle of misbehavior and punitive response from administration." - teacher Jen Adkins
    • Any kind of circle that involves student peers can help create a sense of community and fairness.
  • The teacher/administrator is not the judge. They are the facilitator. They do not tell the student what to do/how to feel, but help them figure it out.
  • Punishment might make misbehaving students feel unfairly treated, humiliated, or singled-out. Instead of teaching them a lesson, it often escalates the misbehavior, and thus escalates the punishment. Restorative philosophies focus instead on getting the student to recognize the harm they caused and how they can do better.
As you can see, restorative justice requires the school to be deliberate and focused. But it's definitely possible. In my opinion, the critics who dismiss it as an over-lenient pipe dream should do more research.

My source for this blog post was this Q&A where several different teachers wrote about how they practice and view restorative justice: https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2016/02/response_how_to_practice_restorative_justice_in_schools.html

-Annette

Comments

  1. This is so cool! I've only ever heard the criticisms of restorative justice, like how the student might behave the same way if not punished strictly enough, but your arguments make sense and restorative justice really seems to have a more positive impact than a negative one. I like the idea of having the teacher be a facilitator, sort of like Dr. Majerus' role in Utopias and Dystopias. And a peer court sounds effective in the fact that it not only teaches the misbehaving student how to behave, but the other students on how to resolve conflicts and pass fair judgment.

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  2. This is a really cool example of a potential utopia in school systems. I personally have never heard of this, but from what you've explained, this seems like a system that has could work better than the way discipline is usually done in high schools. Giving young adults about to enter college some experience in talking out issues instead of bottling it up seems like a solid way to send out emotionally aware and stable students.

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  3. I agree that we should not be to quick to dismiss restorative justice. Our current criminal justice system consists essentially of shutting offenders out of society and spending massive amounts of money to keep them there. This system clearly harms society, and regardless of whether its benefits outweigh its costs or not, it seems likely that there is a better way to do things. If restorative justice is feasible, than it certainly seems like a better alternative as it would allow offenders to be productive members of society rather than drags on it and would make personal redemption more likely and decrease personal suffering.

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  4. I have mixed feelings on restorative justice, mostly based on experiences with and stories about unresponsive high school students in similar situations. But I really like the ideas behind it. I think it's important to give students the power to change and work out their problems (as opposed to adults imposing a punishment on a student and exploiting their power because of a grudge or something). So I'm curious to see how restorative justice works in the long run, because some schools clearly need a change in approach to punishment. Thanks for including real teachers' experiences with the policy!

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  5. We've talked a lot about restorative justice in the social justice class this semester, and I think it is a very good idea if it is implemented properly. The most important part of it is that everyone has to be invested in the community and finding solutions for the school that will work. As we start to see more schools (hopefully!) implementing restorative justice, I think it might be more effective to start using it in grade schools then to middle schools and high schools so people are more inclined to take it seriously and associate it with school.

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  6. This is a really interesting post, Annette, as I've actually never heard of "restorative justice" before. If it would work out as designed, it sounds a lot better than simply suspending a student, and it seems beneficial in creating the right dialogue between offender and victim. It also teaches students that when a mistake is made, they need to talk things out rather than ignore the problem. If you messed up, look inside and understand why you did what you did, and what you should've done instead. However, I don't know if it would always work with some kids not willing to comply, but I think the idea is great and it could affect a lot of students.

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    1. I agree! I think it would be a lot more effective at teaching the student, rather than simply punishing them. People should understand how their actions effect others, but this may not work if someone is unwilling to comply with it. It certainly is a good idea though!

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  7. I learned about the flawed criminal justice system back in 7th grade when I watched a video about the concerning amounts of money our society uses to keep criminals incarcerated. Millions of dollars were being used to lock up people. I agree that there needs to be a change regarding restorative justice. There has to be a better solution to dealing with the rule breakers. Great post.

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    1. Even though this post was more aimed at a high school level, I too thought it could be implemented for the criminal justice system as a whole, which definitely needs a lot of reform.

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  8. This is a super intriguing post, Annette. Honestly, I hadn't heard of the fight at UHS, nor had I ever heard about restorative justice in its entirety. So, thank you for sharing! I definately appreciate the reasoning behind it and think that it could be really powerful in our educational systems. Still, I'm curious about how truly effective it is. I wonder if there are any statistics to describe that.

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  9. Oh wow, this is cool! I have never heard of this concept before. Restorative justice sounds very constructive, and I think it would be encouraging to see this being applied more consistently in public schools. It sounds better to motivate students to solve their own problems rather than being punished by adults. I wonder how effective this would be

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  10. Restorative justice generally seems like an excellent idea. I'm not entirely convinced it can work in all circumstances, even at the high school level, but I do hope it can, and I certainly hope that it can be employed much more than it currently is, as it is clear that the current disciplinary policies of most schools do not do what they are intended to.
    -Sasha

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    1. I agree that this seems like a good idea but that it might not always work. I think it mostly will depend on what that person did wrong and how that person responds to help.

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  11. I’ve never heard of this before reading your blog. I think it’s a very interesting concept though. In theory, it sound like something that would help the student in the long run, rather than a short lived punishment. I also think that this is something that parents should consider using when punishing their children. Sometimes kids just need a guiding hand to learn, rather than just being grounded or something.

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  12. You were right when you said "Easier said than done." From what I heard, they have tried this at Urbana High School (I think it was there but it may have been at another Champaign school) and having heard first hand from a teacher there, the school became a war zone, because the students were not afraid of the consequences. As a result, many more fights would break out and more students (and teachers) were injured because of them. Because of the nature of the human race, letting kids off without any sense of punishment doesn't work unless you have the right kids to do this. This is another example of "expected result/actual result."

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