2016/05/03

Howard Zehr - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Howard Zehr - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Howard Zehr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Howard J. Zehr
Howard Zehr.jpg
BornJuly 2, 1944
Freeport, Illinois, U.S.
Academic background
InfluencesJohn Howard Yoder, Nils Christie, Martin Luther King, Jr., Peter Stearns, Vincent Harding
Academic work
Main interestsPenology, restorative justice, restorative processes
Notable worksChanging Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice(3rd ed, 2005); The Little Book of Restorative Justice(2002)
Notable ideasRestorative justice[1]
Howard J. Zehr (born July 2, 1944) is an American criminologist. Zehr is considered to be a pioneer of the modern concept ofrestorative justice.[2][3]
He is currently the Distinguished Professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and co-director of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice.

Life

The son of a Mennonite church leader in the midwest, Howard Zehr was born in Freeport, Illinois, and raised through his elementary years in two other Illinois municipalities, Peoria and Fisher. His family moved to Indiana for his middle and high school years. He studied at two Mennonite institutions, for a year each – Goshen College in Indiana andBethel College in Kansas – before finishing his undergraduate degree in European history atMorehouse College, an all-male liberal arts college that is historically black, in Atlanta, Georgia.[4] Zehr was the first white to earn a B.A. from Morehouse when he graduated in 1966.[5] Thanks to the school’s then-Morehouse College president Dr. Benjamin Mays, Zehr was able to complete his schooling through a minority scholarship that Mays assisted him in securing; Zehr graduated second in his class.[6]
He earned an M.A. in European history at the University of Chicago in 1967 and a Ph.D. in modern European history from Rutgers University in 1974. From 1971 to 1978, he taught at Talladega College in Alabama. He then left academia to do grassroots work, directing a half-way house in 1978 in Elkhart, Indiana, and becoming the founder and director (1978–1982) of an Elkhart County program now called the Center for Community Justice.[4] Through this program, Zehr directed the first victim-offender reconciliation program in the United States.[7] For 17 years, 1979–1996, Zehr directed the Office on Crime and Justice under Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Akron, PA.[4] While with MCC, Zehr began doing photojournalism, producing professional-quality photographs that were published in MCC journals and books, such as A Dry Roof and a Cow – Dreams and Portraits of Our Neighbors (Akron, Pa: MCC, 1984). As of 2013, he had five photography-centered books to his name, all published by Good Books of Intercourse, Pa.: Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Without Parole (1996; Japanese edition, 2006); Transcending – Reflections of Crime Victims (2001; Japanese edition, 2006); The Little Book of Contemplative Photography (2005); What Will Happen to Me?, about the children of prisoners (2010); Pickups: A Love Story (2013), a light-hearted look at pickup trucks and their owners.
"Your ability to listen and your respect for human beings, whether they are victims or offenders, is vividly expressed in your two books of photographs and interviews,Transcending – Reflections of Crime Victims, and Doing Life – Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences," said Thomas J. Porter, JD, executive director of JUSTPEACE Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation at Hamline University in a ceremony announcing a "lifetime achievement award" for Zehr.[8]
An Ebony magazine reporter wrote: "Howard Zehr, the restorative justice pioneer recognized for building bridges for the voiceless, calls them [the children of prisoners] hidden victims. His latest book, What Will Happen To Me?, places the lens on 30 children whose parents are behind bars. It allows each to be heard as he or she shares thoughts and reflections... The truth of the matter is that approximately 3 million children go to bed with a parent in prison or jail."[6]
Since 1996, Zehr has been a faculty member of Eastern Mennonite University, based at EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. He served as the center’s co-director for five years, 2002–2007. He stepped away from full-time teaching and became co-director of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice in 2012.[9]
Zehr is a past member of the Victims Advisory Groups of the United States Sentencing Commission and has taught courses and workshops in restorative justice to more than 1,000 people, many of whom lead their own restorative justice-focused organizations. Representatives of the Council for Restorative Justice at Georgia State University, Youth Justice Initiative in Iowa, and Mediation Northern Ireland are among the leaders Zehr has taught.[10][11] He has given restorative justice presentations in 35 states and 25 countries. His impact has been especially significant in the United States, Brazil, Japan, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Britain, Ukraine, and New Zealand, a country that has restructured its juvenile justice system into a family-focused, restorative approach.[12][13] The impact of New Zealand's restorative approach is outlined in The Little Book of Family Group Conferences, New Zealand Style, co-authored by Zehr.[14]

Restorative justice

"No person has done more to inspire the restorative imaginations of citizens of this planet than Howard Zehr. He has been the great teacher who has invited us to sit beside him to see what he can see through his restorative lens."
- John Braithwaite[15]
Zehr's contributions to the field date to the late 1970s, when he was a practitioner in the foundational stage of the restorative justice movement.[7] He has led hundreds of events internationally that focus on restorative justice, victim-offender conferencing, judicial reform and other criminal justice issues.[16]
In Restoring Justice–An Introduction to Restorative Justice, Daniel W. Van Ness and Karen Heetderks Strong say that the term "restorative justice" was likely coined by Albert Eglash in 1958 when he distinguished between three approaches to justice: (1) "retributive justice," based on punishment; (2) "distributive justice," involving therapeutic treatment of offenders; and (3) "restorative justice," based on restitution with input from victims and offenders.[17]
Zehr's book Changing Lenses–A New Focus for Crime and Justice, first published in 1990, is credited with being "groundbreaking,"[18] one of the first to articulate a theory of restorative justice.[19] It has been translated into seven languages.[4] The title of this book refers to providing an alternative framework for thinking about – or new lens for viewing – crime and justice.[20] Changing Lenses says that in a "retributive justice" framework, crime is an offense against the state, whereas in a restorative justice framework, crime is viewed as a violation of people and relationships.[21] The book made reference to the positive results of efforts in the late 1970s and 1980s at victim-offender mediation, pioneered in the United States by Howard Zehr, Ron Claassen and Mark Umbreit.[22]
A number of scholars believe it is not a coincidence that Mennonites in North America, like Zehr and Claassen,[22] and the social-action arm of their church-community,Mennonite Central Committee, played major roles in popularizing the theory and practices of restorative justice.[23][24] "[T]he antinomiam groups advocating and supporting restorative justice, such as the Mennonites (as well as Amish and Quaker groups), subscribe to principled pacifism and also tend to believe that restorative justice is much more humane than the punitive juvenile and criminal justice systems."[25]
By the second half of the 1990s, the expression "restorative justice" had become popular, evolving to universal usage by 2006.[26] The restorative justice movement has attracted many segments of society, including "police officers, judges, schoolteachers, politicians, juvenile justice agencies, victim support groups, aboriginal elders, and mums and dads."[27]
"Restorative justice is a fast-growing state, national and international social movement that seeks to bring together people to address the harm caused by crime," write Mark Umbreit and Marilyn Peterson Armour. "Restorative justice views violence, community decline, and fear-based responses as indicators of broken relationships. It offers a different response, namely the use of restorative solutions to repair the harm related to conflict, crime, and victimization."[28]
In Changing Lenses, Howard Zehr describes restorative justice as focusing on the harms done, and consequent needs and obligations, of all parties involved (victims, offenders and the communities in which the harm occurred). He sets forth these six guiding questions:
  1. Who has been hurt?
  2. What are their needs?
  3. Whose obligations are these?
  4. What are the causes?
  5. Who has a stake in the situation?
  6. What is the appropriate process to involve stakeholders in an effort to address causes and put things right?[29]
The growth of restorative justice has been facilitated by NGOs dedicated to this approach to justice, such as the Victim Offender Mediation Association, as well as by the establishment of academic centers, such as Zehr's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, the University of Minnesota's Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking, the Community Justice Institute atFlorida Atlantic University, the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies at Fresno Pacific University in California, and the Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.[30]
In the afterword to the third edition of Changing Lenses, Zehr acknowledges the debt that restorative justice owes to many indigenous traditions.[31] "Two peoples have made very specific and profound contributions to practices in the field – the First Nations people of Canada and the U.S., and the Maori of New Zealand... [I]n many ways, restorative justice represents a validation of values and practices that were characteristic of many indigenous groups," whose traditions were "often discounted and repressed by western colonial powers."[32]
Zehr has raised awareness that judicial punishment is a social choice, rather than being the only possible response to crime, and that a more socially productive, healing choice can emerge through the application of restorative justice.[33] Zehr argues that punishment – or inflicting suffering as repayment for harm done – rarely results in healing for anybody and often makes matters worse.[34]
Congruent with his Mennonite Church USA tradition, Zehr links restorative justice practices to the Judeo-Christian concept of Shalom: "Emphasizing 'right relationships' between individuals, between groups of people, between people and the earth, and between people and the divine, Shalom declares an ultimate allegiance to respecting life in all its forms... [It] encourages us to see the nurturing of this sacred relational web as our ultimate calling."[35]

Quotes

How is restorative justice defined? "Restorative justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offence and to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible." Howard Zehr in The Little Book of Restorative Justice[36]
What does restorative justice try to do? "Restorative justice requires, at minimum, that we address victims' harms and needs, hold offenders accountable to put right those harms, and involve victims, offenders, and communities in this process." Howard Zehr in The Little Book of Restorative Justice[37]

Honors

Selected awards and honors:[4]
  • University of Alabama Birmingham, Ireland Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award, 2015 [38]
  • Gandhi Center of James Madison University, co-recipient of its "Community Service Award" (the third award conferred by the Gandhi Center, after "global nonviolence awards" to Desmond Tutu in 2007 and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in 2009),[9] 2013
  • International Peace Award from the Community of Christ, 2006
  • Lifetime Achievement Award, Journal of Law and Religion, Hamline University, St. Paul, Minn., 2006
  • The Restorative Justice Association of Virginia (the first annual Howard Zehr Award), 2005
  • The New York Dispute Resolution Association's annual Peacebuilder Award, 2003
  • Prison Fellowship International's Restorative Justice Prize, 2003

Works

Howard Zehr is the author, co-author or editor of about 22 books, plus the source of dozens of chapters, op-ed pieces, and other presentations. He is widely interviewed by or quoted in the media.[39][40][41] Zehr's list of publications includes:
  • Fundamental Concepts of Restorative Justice. Akron, Pennsylvania: Mennonite Central Committee. 1997* Justice: Retribution or Restoration?. Peacework Magazine on the web, April 1999.
  • Restorative Justice: When Justice and Healing Go Together. Track Two. 6(3&4) 1997
  • "Restorative Justice Signposts: Victim Involvement". OVA Newsletter, Mary Achilles, Victim Advocate, Vol. 4, Issue 1. 2000
  • "Family Group Conferences: A Challenge to Victim Offender Mediation?". Victim Offenders Mediation Association Quarterly 7(1):4-8. 1996
  • "Justice Paradigm Shift? Values and Visions in the Reform Process." Mediation Quarterly 12(3):207-216. 1995
  • Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice.. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 271p. 1990
  • "Justice: Stumbling Toward a Restorative Ideal.". In: P. Arthur (ed.), Justice: The Restorative Vision. New Perspectives on Crime and Justice (Issue #7). Akron, PA: Mennonite Central Committee Office of Criminal Justice, pp. 1–15. 1989
  • "Retributive Justice, Restorative Justice.". New Perspectives on Crime and Justice (Issue #4). Akron, PA: Mennonite Central Committee Office of Criminal Justice, September, 16p. 1985
  • "Mediating the Victim-Offender Conflict.". New Perspectives on Crime and Justice (Issue #2). Akron, PA: Mennonite Central Committee Office of Criminal Justice, September, 30p. 1980
  • "Victim Offender Reconciliation: An Incarceration Substitute?". Federal Probation 46(4):63-68. 1982
  • Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences.. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 1998
  • "Justice that heals: The practice. Paper presented at the Making Crime Pay conference. Wellington, New Zealand, June 1994.". Stimulus 2 (August): 69-74. 1994
  • Restorative Family Group Conferences: Differing Models and Guidelines for Practice. Federal Probation. 60(3): 24-29. 1996
  • "Restorative justice for crime victims: The promise and the challenge.". In Restorative community justice: Repairing harm and transforming communities, ed. Gordon Bazemore and Mara Schiff, 87-99. With an introduction by Gordon Bazemore and Mara Schiff. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Co. 2001
  • "Restorative Justice: The Concept.". Corrections Today. 59(7):68-70. 1997
  • "Ways of knowing for a restorative worldview.". Photocopied draft. 2000
  • Restorative justice sign posts.. Conciliation Quarterly 20 (3): 11. 2001
  • Journey to Belonging: Flight from shame. Reflections: A Journal of the Conflict Transformation Program 1: 6-9. 2002
  • Restoring Justice: Envisioning a Justice Process Focused on Healing – Not Punishment. The Other Side 33(5), Sept – Dec 1997. 1997
  • Restorative justice and substance abuse: The path ahead. In Bringing restorative justice to adolescent substance abuse, ed. Kathryn G. Herr. Special issue of Youth & Society 33 (December), 314-328. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 2001
  • Fundamental Concepts of Restorative Justice. Contemporary Justice Review. 1: 47-55. Reprinted in Restorative Justice. Declan Roche (2003), ed. pp. 73–81. The International Library of Essays in Law & Legal Theory, Second Series. Aldershot, Hants, England: Dartmouth/Ashgate. 1998
  • Victim offender conferencing in Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. Harrisonburg, PA: Eastern Mennonite University, Conflict Transformation Program. 1998
  • Restorative justice. Corrections Today. 59(7): 68-114 1997
  • Journey to belonging. Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Restorative Justice for Juveniles, October (Tübingen, Germany). 2000
  • Journey to Belonging. Paper presented at the Just Peace? Peace Making and Peace Building for the New Millennium conference, held in Auckland, New Zealand, April 24–28. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Centre for Justice and Peace Development. 2000
  • Paradigms of justice- old and new. In Spiritual roots of restorative justice: A collection of faith community perspectives, 37. Ontario, Canada: Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual & Religious Care. 2000
  • Journey to Belonging. In, Elmar G.M. Weitekamp and Han-Jurgen Kerner, Restorative Justice: Theoretical Foundations. Deon, UK: Willan Publishing. pp. 21–31. 2002
  • The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2002
  • Re-Thinking Criminal Justice: Restorative Justice. Re-Thinking Criminal Justice. 1(May): 1-13. 1995
  • Restoring justice. In God and the victim: Theological reflections on evil, victimization, justice, and forgiveness, ed. Lisa Barnes Lampman and Michelle D. Shattuck, 131-159. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; and Neighbors Who Care: Washington, D.C. 1999
  • Rethinking God, Justice, and Treatment of Offenders. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation. 35(3/4): 259-285. 2002
  • Critical Issues in Restorative Justice: An Inadequate and Overlapping Outline. VOMA Connections 12 (Autumn). Downloaded June 22, 2004. 2002
  • Taking Victims and Their Advocates Seriously: A Listening Project. Harrisonburg,VA: Institute for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.
  • Ways of Knowing for a Restorative Worldview. In, Elmar Weitekamp and Hans-Jurgen Kerner, eds. Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions.Devon, UK and Portland Oregon: Willan Publishing. pp. 257–271. 2003
  • Justice as Restoration, Justice as Respect. Justice Professional. 11: 71-87. 1998
  • Mediating the Victim-Offender Conflict. Mennonite Central Committee. Victim Offender Reconciliation Program. 1980
  • Critical Issues in Restorative Justice. Monsey, New York and Cullompton, Devon, UK: Criminal Justice Press and Willan Publishing. 2004
  • A Restorative Framework for Community Justice Practice. In, Kieran McEvoy andTim Newburn,eds., Criminology, Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK and New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 135–152. 2003
  • A call for thoughtful response: Conflict Transformation staff thoughts on trauma and healing. Harrisonburg, VA: Eastern Mennonite University, Conflict Transformation Program. 2001
  • Listening to Victims—A Critique of Restorative Justice Policy and Practice in the United States. Federal Probation. 68(1): 32-38. 2004
  • Family group conferences: A challenge to victim offender mediation?. Accord, a publication of Canadian Mennonite Central Committee. 1996
  • Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2001
  • The Meaning of Life: Working at the Healing Edge. Offender Program Report. 11:71-87. 1998
  • Justice Alternative: A Restorative Approach. The Corrections Psychologist. 30(1). 1998
  • Justice Alternatives: A Restorative Perspective. Imbizo. February. 1996
  • Restitution Reduces Recidivism. Crime and Justice Network Newsletter. Oct 1990 – Mar 1991. p7. Downloaded January 20, 2005. 1990
  • Evaluation and Restorative Justice Principles.. In Elizabeth Elliott and Robert M. Gordon, eds., New Directions in Restorative Justice: Issues, Practice, Evaluation. Cullompton, UK: Willan Publishing. pp. 296–303. 2005
  • The Little Book of Family Group Conferences: New Zealand style.. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2004
  • Restaurando relaciones: Una manera distanta de hacer justicia. San Salvador, El Salvador: Asociación Bienestar Yek Ineme 2001
  • The ideas of engagement and empowerment. in, Gerry Johnstone and Daniel W. Van Ness, eds., Handbook of Restorative Justice. Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing. pp. 41–58 2007
  • Avaliação e princípios da justiça restaurativa.. en, Catherin Slakmon, Maíra Rocha Machado and Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini (eds.), Novas Direções na Governança da Justiça e da Segurança (Brasília- D.F.: Ministry of Justice of Brazil, United Nations Development Programme – Brazil, and the School of Law of the Getulio Vargas Foundation – São Paulo). pp. 411– 417. 2006
  • Maneiras de conhecer para uma visão restaurativa de mundo.. en, Catherin Slakmon, Maíra Rocha Machado and Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini (eds.), Novas Direções na Governança da Justiça e da Segurança (Brasília- D.F.: Ministry of Justice of Brazil, United Nations Development Programme – Brazil, and the School of Law of the Getulio Vargas Foundation – São Paulo). pp. 419–432. 2006
  • El pequeño libro de la justicia restaurativa.. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2007
  • Why Can't We Just Apologize?. The Crime Victims Report. 11(3):38. 2007

References

  1. Van Ness, Daniel W., Karen Heetderks Strong. Restoring Justice – An Introduction to Restorative Justice. 4th ed. New Province, N.J.: Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., 2010: 24. Print.
  2. Umbreit, Mark, Marilyn Peterson Armour.Restorative Justice Dialogue – An Essential Guide for Research and Practice. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 2011: 148.
  3. Van Ness, Daniel W., Karen Heetderks Strong. Restoring Justice – An Introduction to Restorative Justice. 4th ed. New Province, N.J.: Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., 2010: 24.
  4. Full curriculum vitae of Howard Zehr, Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice website [1]. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  5. "Famous Alumni of Morehouse College." Web, retrieved October 8, 2013.
  6. Christian, Margena A. "What Will Happen To Me? Restorative Justice Pioneer Takes Look At Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children," Ebony, Jan. 2012. Web version, retrieved October 8, 2013.
  7. Umbreit, Mark, Marilyn Peterson Armour. Restorative Justice Dialogue – An Essential Guide for Research and Practice. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 2011: 37.
  8. Porter, Thomas. Journal of Law and Religion, Lifetime Achievement Award Ceremony for Zehr, October 5, 2006. PDF, law.hamline.edu, retrieved October 8, 2013.
  9. Lofton, Bonnie Price. "JMU's Gandhi Center honors Howard Zehr and Vida Huber." September 20, 2014. Web, retrieved October 8, 2014
  10. James Madison University News."Gandhi Center award recognizes Zehr, Huber." October 4, 2014. Web, retrieved October 8, 2014.
  11. Lofton, Bonnie Price. "Ending 30 Years of Mayhem: Lessons from Northern Ireland," Peacebuilder Magazine, Spring-summer 2009. Print and web versions,https://emu.edu/now/peacebuilder/issues/spring-summer-2009/. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  12. Zehr, Howard. Personnel page, Eastern Mennonite University.http://www.emu.edu/personnel/people/show/zehrh. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  13. Lofton, Bonnie Price. "JMU's Gandhi Center honors Howard Zehr and Vida Huber." September 20, 2014. Web, retrieved October 8, 2014.
  14. MacRae, Allan, Howard Zehr. The Little Book of Family Group Conferences, New Zealand Style. Intercourse, Pa: Good Books, 2004.
  15. "Everyone invited to celebrate Howard Zehr by attending his May 23 “roast”". Retrieved20 March 2015.
  16. James Madison University News. "Gandhi Center award recognizes Zehr, Huber." October 4, 2014. Web, retrieved October 8, 2014.
  17. Van Ness, Daniel W., Karen Heetderks Strong. Restoring Justice – An Introduction to Restorative Justice. 4th ed. New Province, N.J.: Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., 2010: 21-22.
  18. Dorne, Clifford K. Restorative Justice in the United States. N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008: 167.
  19. Van Ness, Daniel W., Karen Heetderks Strong. Restoring Justice–An Introduction to Restorative Justice. 4th ed. New Province, N.J.: Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., 2010: 24.
  20. Dorne, Clifford K. Restorative Justice in the United States. N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008: 8.
  21. Johnstone, Gerry, Daniel W. Van Ness. Handbook of Restorative Justice. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2007: 55 (footnote).
  22. Van Ness, Daniel W., Karen Heetderks Strong. Restoring Justice–An Introduction to Restorative Justice. 4th ed. New Province, N.J.: Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., 2010: 27.
  23. Dorne, Clifford K. Restorative Justice in the United States. N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008: 166-167.
  24. Johnstone, Gerry, Daniel W. Van Ness. Handbook of Restorative Justice. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2007: 512.
  25. Dorne, Clifford K. Restorative Justice in the United States. N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008: 166.
  26. Johnstone, Gerry, Daniel W. Van Ness. Handbook of Restorative Justice. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2007: 76-77.
  27. Johnstone, Gerry, Daniel W. Van Ness. Handbook of Restorative Justice. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2007: 77.
  28. Umbreit, Mark, Marilyn Peterson Armour. Restorative Justice Dialogue–An Essential Guide for Research and Practice. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 2011: 2.
  29. Zehr, Howard. Changing Lenses – A New Focus for Crime and Justice. Scottdale PA: 2005 (3rd ed), 271.
  30. Johnstone, Gerry, Daniel W. Van Ness. Handbook of Restorative Justice. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2007: 512.
  31. Johnstone, Gerry, Daniel W. Van Ness. Handbook of Restorative Justice. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2007: 512-513.
  32. Zehr, Howard. Changing Lenses – A New Focus for Crime and Justice. Scottdale PA: 2005, 268-269.
  33. Johnstone, Gerry. Restorative Justice – Ideas, Values, Debates. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2002, 6-7.
  34. Johnstone, Gerry. Restorative Justice – Ideas, Values, Debates. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2002, 90-91.
  35. Dyck, David. "Reaching toward a structurally responsive training and practice of restorative justice" in Handbook of Restorative Justice," edited by Dennis Sullivan and Larry Tifft. London: Routledge, 2008: 536.
  36. Cited by Emma Kasprzak, BBC News, "Community justice – the power of the panel." October 20, 2012. Web, retrieved October 8, 2014.
  37. Cited by Emma Kasprzak, BBC News, "Community justice – the power of the panel." October 20, 2012. Web,retrieved October 8, 2014.
  38. "Dr. Howard Zehr Named Recipient of 2015 Ireland Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award". Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  39. Kottoor, Naveena. "How do people forgive a crime like murder?" BBC World News, August 19, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  40. National Council on Crime and Delinquency, "Webinar: Does Restorative Justice Need Forgiveness?", http://www.nccdglobal.org/news/webinar-does-restorative-justice-need-forgiveness. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  41. Zehr, Howard. “Slavery Apology: admit wrongs; realize lasting impact,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed, 3 March 13, 2007.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Howard_Zehr&oldid=709342813"
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The Forgiveness Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Forgiveness Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Forgiveness Project

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Forgiveness Project
The Forgiveness Project logo.png
Founded2004
TypeInternational organization
Registration no.Charity No. 1103922
Focus
Location
Key people
Marina Cantacuzino (founder)
MissionTo open up a dialogue about forgiveness and promote understanding through awareness, education and transformation.
Websitetheforgivenessproject.com
The Forgiveness Project[1]is a UK-based charity that uses real stories of victims and perpetrators of crime and violence to help people explore ideas aroundforgiveness and alternatives to revenge. With no political or religious affiliations, The Forgiveness Project’s independent and inclusive approach ensures its core message – that everyone has the potential to change their perspective and break the cycle of vengeance – resonates across all cultures.[2]

Aims

The charity’s goals are centred on:
  • Awareness: Raise the debate about forgiveness by collecting and sharing personal stories.
  • Education: Encourage and empower people to explore the nature of forgiveness and alternatives to conflict and revenge.
  • Transformation: Engage civil society, as well as transform hearts and minds.

History

The charity was founded in 2004 by Marina Cantacuzino,[3] a journalist who in the build up to the Iraq War began to gather personal stories from people whose lives had been affected by violence and terrorism but who had learned to forgive and move on.[4]
Marina spent all of 2003 collecting stories of reconciliation and forgiveness for an exhibition of words and images which she created with the photographer Brian Moody. These stories subsequently formed the basis of The Forgiveness Project’s The F Wordexhibition.[5]

Concept of rehabilitative storytelling

Central to The Forgiveness Project’s work is the sharing of personal accounts about people’s transformative journeys. Having collected over 130 personal stories on their website,[6] this is also done through its exhibition, The F Word, and via the award-winning programmes it runs within prisons, schools, community groups and companies.
In providing tools that can facilitate conflict resolution and reconciliation, The Forgiveness Project encourages behavioural change and impacts positively on people’s lives, whatever their story.
These story-led initiatives operate at a local, national and international level and encourage individuals to reflect on their current perspective and their future life path. Rather than give advice or tell people what to think, The Forgiveness Project works by inviting those involved to see whether they can relate to the stories they hear and to take steps in trying to see a different perspective on their circumstances.

Projects and programmes

The F Word exhibition

This collection of thought-provoking narratives document personal tales of forgiveness and reconciliation around the world. The exhibition can be hired in a range of formats and regularly tours Germany, the UK and the USA. There are also permanent exhibitions in France, Kenya, South Africa and Sweden.
The F Word[7] exhibition has been displayed in more than 500 venues across 13 countries[8] to an audience of over 60,000 people since being launched in London’s Oxo Gallery in January 2004. The exhibition was described by the charity's founding patron, Anita Roddick Anita Roddick,[9] as “truly an education of the human spirit”.[10]

The Forgiveness Project: Stories for a Vengeful Age (book)

An updated collection of some of the charity's stories which examine the charity's core themes of forgiveness, reconciliation and conflict transformation have been brought together into an illustrated 240-page book. Released in hardback by Jessica Kingsley Publishers[11] on 26 March 2015, the book was written by founder Marina Cantacuzino and includes forewords from patron Desmond Tutu and Alexander McCall Smith. It has also been received endorsements from actress Emma Thompson, journalist and news presenter Jon Snow, historian and TV presenter Dan Snow, cultural thinker and founding faculty member of The School of Life in London, Roman Krznaric, Cambridge University professor Simon Baron-Cohen, humanitarian and former hostage Terry Waite and journalist Bel Mooney.[12]

Speaker’s Bureau

The charity believes that hearing someone speak first-hand and being able to ask questions is the most powerful form of story-telling so over 30 of those who share their stories with The Forgiveness Project are also part of the charity’s Speaker’s Bureau. This facility allows schools, prisons, conferences and organisations hiring the F Word exhibition to have one of the featured storytellers on hand to share their experience of forgiveness.

Annual lecture

In addition to regular talks, The Forgiveness Project has also hosted four annual lectures to date.
  • 2010: The first annual lecture was delivered by Desmond Tutu in May 2010 at St John's, Smith Square. Tutu was joined by Mary Blewitt who lost 50 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide; Jo Berry whose father was killed in the 1984Brighton hotel bombing; and Patrick Magee, the former IRA activist who planted the bomb. The event was chaired by BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton.
  • 2011: Clare Short delivered the second annual lecture on ‘No Forgiveness Without Justice’ on 6 October 2011 at Union Chapel, Islington. Chaired by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown of The Independent, Clare Short’s lecture was preceded by Colin Parry, who lost his son in the IRA Warrington bomb in 1993, Elizabeth Turner, whose husband was killed while at a business meeting in the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian whose 10-year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli soldier and who is a founding member ofCombatants for Peace.
  • 2012: Dr Gwen Adshead, forensic psychiatrist at Broadmoor High Security Hospital, who delivered the 2012 lecture at the Royal Geographical Society, supported on stage by Marian Partington whose sister was murdered by Fred and Rosemary West, Erwin James, the Guardian columnist and former prisoner who has served a life sentence for murder; and Kemal Pervanic, survivor of the notorious Ormaska concentration camp in Bosnia.
  • 2013: Professor Simon Baron-Cohen delivered the keynote speech on ‘Zero degrees of empathy: exploring explanations of human cruelty and kindness’ at the Royal Geographical Society. The lecture, chaired by Simon Fanshawe, was followed by a panel discussion with Marina Cantacuzino, Mary Foley, whose 15-year-old daughter Charlotte was murdered during a birthday party in East London in 2005, and Peter Woolf, a reformed career criminal.

RESTORE programme

RESTORE is the charity’s intensive, group-based victim empathy programme for offenders that encourages the sharing of experiences within a framework influenced byRestorative Justice principles. The Forgiveness Project has delivered over 160 programmes in custodial and non-custodial settings in England and Wales since 2007.
Co-facilitated by trained victims of crime and ex-offenders, the workshop leaders use their personal testimonies to encourage prisoners to take responsibility for their actions and change how they think and feel about their offending behaviour.

Link between RESTORE and restorative justice

Whilst Restorative Justice (RJ) traditionally focuses on bringing a victim and offender into communication, this process can be stalled if both parties aren’t at the same life stage. The Forgiveness Project’s approach is to help offenders unravel their own stories and develop empathy by understanding the impact their actions have on others. This enables them to start the restorative process without being entirely dependent on their victim’s willingness or availability to participate.
In many cases, having encouraged behavioural change, the programme may result in the offender having the confidence, motivation and support to meet their victims as part of future RJ conferencing. RESTORE assists in victims’ recovery by enabling them to play a role in the criminal justice system.

Recognition

Awards and commendations

Over the years The Forgiveness Project’s work within the prison and probation services and RESTORE’s use of real stories to help motivate offenders to change has won it widespread recognition, including:
  • Longford Prize: In 2007, the charity received a ‘Special Commendation’ from the Longford Prize judges, awarded for its ‘remarkable work’ in exploring and encouraging notions of forgiveness through grassroots projects, including in prisons.[13]
  • Robin Corbett Award: In February 2014, the charity was highly commended by the Robin Corbett Award for Prisoner Rehabilitation 2014 for its involvement of trained former offenders, victims of crime and prison staff in the delivery of its group-based RESTORE programme.[14][15] The runner-up prize of £1,000 was presented by Lady Corbett and Lord Ramsbotham at the House of Lords in Westminster.
The charity’s founder and director, Marina Cantacuzino, also received a 2013 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship which enabled her to spend five weeks visiting and learning[16] from other restorative justice programmes in custodial and community settings in the USA and Canada.[17]

Research and evaluation

Independent evaluation was commissioned on the work of RESTORE within prisons and the impact that it has had on young offenders and adult prisoners who had participated in the programme.
  • 2009: In 2009, Lois Edmund, Ph.D., C.Psych., Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution Studies, University of Winnipeg, conducted a qualitative assessment based on the first 18 months of The Forgiveness Project’s operations in prison. The report concluded that RESTORE ‘results in dramatic insight for many participants’, but ‘further work is needed to evaluate the long-term learnings of the participants’.[18]
  • 2012: To back up The Forgiveness Project's assertion that its work consistently demonstrates a shift in offenders’ motivation to change the charity commissioned an independent evaluation of RESTORE from the Forensic Psychological Services at Middlesex University. The evaluation[19] concluded that the intervention has an impact on recidivism and that those who completed the programme had improved general attitudes to offending, were less likely to anticipate re-offending, and less likely to evaluate crime as worthwhile.[20]
  • 2013: The Forgiveness Project carried out extensive work at Ashfield Young Offenders Institute in Bristol where, with funding from the Home Office’s Communities Against Gangs, Guns and Knives Fund, it was able to embed its RESTORE work into the fabric of the prison. In a report of this programme by cultural scientist Christian Straub, a member of the prison staff described RESTORE as “very powerful” because it “delivered a strong message gently”.[21]

Patrons and supporters

Since Dame Anita Roddick first lent her support in advance of the inaugural The F Word exhibition in 2004, The Forgiveness Project has attracted endorsements and ongoing support from a number of high-profile organisations and individuals.
The charity’s patrons include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rt Hon the Lord Woolf, philanthropist Lady Edwina Grosvenor, actress Emma Thompson and comedian Shappi Khorsandi whilst supporters include Tony Benn, clothes designer Katharine Hamnett, actors Dame Helen Mirren and Linus Roache plus Terry Waite.
The Forgiveness Project is also a peace partner of the Charter for Compassion.[22]

External links

References

  1. http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/
  2. "Could you forgive the unforgivable; The Guardian". theguardian.com. 25 June 2006.
  3. "Marina Cantacuzino; The Huffington Post". www.huffingtonpost.com.
  4. "The Forgiveness Project; Prisoners’ Education Trust". prisonerseducation.org.uk.
  5. "Marina Cantacuzino – The Forgiveness Project; Universal Peace Federation".http://www.uk.upf.org. External link in |publisher= (help)
  6. "The Forgiveness Project - Stories".
  7. "The f Word; Faith Initiative". Faith Initiative. Autumn 2005.
  8. "Marina Cantacuzino and ‘the F word’: images of forgiveness; The Brave Discussion". thebravediscussion.com.
  9. "DISPATCH: The F Word Exhibition Hits America". anitaroddick.com.
  10. "TFP: The Forgiveness Project; Soul Circle". http://soulcircle.typepad.com. External link in|publisher= (help)
  11. "JKP - The Forgiveness Project: Stories for a Vengeful Age". jkp.com.
  12. "Amazon - The Forgiveness Project: Stories for a Vengeful Age". amazon.co.uk.
  13. "Longford Prize Winners". 23 November 2007.
  14. "Manx and Welsh restorative schemes win prisoner rehabilitation award; Prison Reform Trust". 4 February 2014.
  15. "Manx prisoner rehabilitation scheme wins national award; BBC". bbc.co.uk. 4 February 2014.
  16. "Can restorative justice reduce reoffending; Winston Churchill Trust" (PDF). 13 January 2014.
  17. "Winston Churchill Memorial Trust - apply now for a prison and penal reform fellowship; Prison Reform Trust".
  18. "The Forgiveness Project - Activity Report; University of Winnipeg" (PDF). July 2009.
  19. "Evaluation of The Forgiveness Project RESTORE Prison Programme; Middlesex University"(PDF). 2012.
  20. "Evaluation of The Forgiveness Project within prisons; Middlesex University Research Repository". 2012.
  21. "Embedding RESTORE into the fabric of YOI Ashfield; Christina Straub MA" (PDF). 2013.
  22. "Peace Partner - peace starts here; Charter for Compassion". January 2014.
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