Image Via USA Today By TJ Grayson There is a clear miscommunication between the needs of students and the environments in which they are expected to thrive and succeed. While students of color, including those at UC Berkeley, have known this for years, recent events surrounding the relationship between race, cultural appropriation and the on-campus […]
Image via Columbia Prison Divest By Annie Gorden “[W]e hope that private prison divestment campaigns, with the abolitionist vision of a larger anti-prison movement, can help us start working towards divesting from the idea that prisons equal justice, which we believe to be fundamentally racist.” – Dunni Oduyemi Following an extremely successful 16-month student-led campaign, […]
The New York Times has published a very supportive OP Ed on the use of RJ for campus sexual misconduct cases. The article summarizes: In restorative justice, the victim and the accused generally meet with facilitators and other community members affected by the offense. The goal is to agree on a plan to make amends to the victim […]
by Nava Bearson A recent article, Restoring Racial Justice (open as pdf) pushes for greater incorporation of race in restorative justice. Authors Fania Davis, Mikhail Lyubansky, and Mara Schiff assert that up to this point, the restorative justice movement has failed to explicitly address race. Through recognizing race and tackling race related issues, restorative justice can […]
Fortunately for all of us, UNICEF has created an online version of the foundational text of RJ in the US, The Little Book of Restorative Justice, by Howard Zehr, founder of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice, Distinguished Professor in the field and prolific writer on an array of RJ-related issues. This version was created in collaboration […]
by Sandra Farzam, UC Berkeley class of 2015 Within the past five years, the Lone Star State’s imprisonment rate has decreased by 10% and crime there has fallen 18%. Texas is leading the way in bipartisan support for liberal prison policies and much of its success has inspired reforms to the prison systems of other […]
by Annie Gorden Trigger Warning: Discussions of rape, sexual violence, and victim-blaming “For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?” –bell hooks The United States criminal legal […]
by Julie Shackford-Bradley Many campus conflicts emerge from “call-out” situations that create deep rifts among former friends, leave people feeling exhausted and alienated, and even lead to violence. Asam Ahmed has recently started an ever-expanding online conversation questioning the efficacy of the call-out, and suggesting an alternative, the “call in.” By Ahmed’s definition, call-out culture: […]
by Annie Gorden Trigger Warning: Discussions of Sexual Assault 2014 marked a turning point for the movement to end sexual violence on campuses, the issue finally surfacing in mainstream media and consciousness. Awareness and activism surrounding campus sexual assault reached new heights, thanks in great part to the work of dedicated activists fighting to bring […]
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