LAW 9530 - Restorative Justice: Practices & Principles

This course offers students an opportunity to study the four leading Restorative Justice practices: (1) Talking Circles; (2) Victim‑Offender Mediation; (3) Family Group Conferencing; and (4) Truth Commissions. The course will examine the principles underlying these Restorative Justice practices and explore the possibilities Restorative Justice offers to move beyond the limits of a retributive sense of justice toward embracing the importance of forgiveness, reconciliations, and social healing in the community. Application of Restorative principles and practices to disputes rooted in ethnic and cultural conflict in the United States will receive extended attention during the last third of the course. The class will be intensively experiential in nature with the practice of the talking circle serving as a core modality for class discussion. Due to the course’s highly experiential nature, enrollment is strictly limited to 24 students. There is no prerequisite for this course.

Every Other Year Course

Credits: 2-3 Credits