What is Restorative Justice (RJ)?

Restorative Justice (RJ) is an alternative to the conventional concept of justice. RJ amplifies building a more just world. RJ foregrounds goodness, love, justice, and solidarity as an everyday way of being. With roots in Indigenous societies worldwide, RJ principles and practices foster community-building by allowing people to connect to each other's humanity through speaking and listening (with an emphasis on listening) to each other through storytelling in an atmosphere of safety, equality, and dignity. Restorative practices may be used by schools, churches, workplaces, and the justice/carceral system.

Restorative practices, applied proactively, aim to nurture community by cultivating communication, understanding, and empathy. RJ may also be applied reactively in response to conflict and/or harm. If we regularly lived out proactive restorative practices, we could decrease the need for reactive RJ applications.