Restorative Justice

There is no one definition around restorative justice but the consideration around restoring justice, notably within a college campus community, is to involve everyone who has a statke in the offense/violation to collectively identify and address the harm(s), needs for restoration/healing, and the obligations for students to move forward so that true healing is possible. Ideally, all harmful incidents that occur within a community could work through a restorative justice mindset that allows for students to acknowledge their behaviors and want to help heal the community from the harm that has occurred. In doing this, the process allows all parties affected (victim/complainant, offender/respondent, community) to process how harm can be restored for all involved by providing a space for profound learning moments and reparation.

When an incident occurs, as appropriate, students will be given a chance to work through restorative means with a facilitator (for residential students, this would be a residential manager; for non-residential students, this would be through the Dean of Students Office). Core questions would center around:

• Who has been harmed
• What are their needs
• Whose obligations are these?
• Who has a stake in this situation?
• What are the causes?
• What is the appropriate process to involve stakeholders in an effort to put things right and address underlying causes?

Of course forgiveness is a big part of the healing process as well. There is a Hawaiian prayer for forgiveness called "Hoʻoponopono and it works like a mantra of self-love. Translated, hoʻoponopono is to "cause things to move back in balance" or "make things right". For many Native Hawaiians this prayer, repeated over and over, has served as a powerful way to cleanse the body of guilt, shame, haunting memories, ill will, and bad feelings that keep the mind fixated on staying in stuck rather than moving forward. The prayer goes simply:

"I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you."

It requires people to acknowledge that wrong was done by saying "sorry." It requires others to acknowledge those feelings. Finally, it acknowledges love--for self and others. True forgiveness does not imply forgetting or absolution. It allows all parties to hold space for feelings by acknowledging a problem exists, then when ready, to make a conscious choice to move on. It's about attention and intention--it's a shared reconciliation to help people navigate hurt feelings and resentments towards others and allows for healing to occur.

Guidelines to incorporating this concept into the restorative justice process would include:

• Inclusive decision-making — allowing those that did the harm to make some decisions
• Active accountability — those that did the harm are engaged in the process, not just on the receiving end of a judgment and decision
• Repairing harm — consideration of what it will take to heal a harmed party/community
• Rebuilding trust — rebuilding relationships so offender/respondent can be trusted, and the harmed/complainant/victim can feel safe again
• Must be voluntary and acceptable to all involved — the aim of this is to work within this framework and have people understand it (training, awareness, option)

In events that are not appropriate to this type of framework or where the offender/respondent does not take responsibility, student conduct processes prevail and work with community members to help process, adjudicate, determine outcome and consideration of elements of restorative justice still come into play. In these cases, the matter would be referred to a student adjudication board (for residential students, this would be a residential board made up of resident assistants and those aspiring to be; for non-residential students, this would be a commuter board made up of students).