Promoting Restorative Discipline

Restorative Justice, which is also called Restorative Discipline, has actually been around longer than we assumed. According to the website, Promoting Restorative Approaches in Behavior Management, it has been around for thousands of years and comes from Native cultures, such as Aboriginals, Maori, and Native Americans, who used this approach to resolve conflict and disagreements (2016). Restorative justice is described as follows,
“…An innovative approach to offending and inappropriate behavior which puts repairing harm done to relationships and people over and above the need for assigning blame and dispensing punishment. A restorative approach in a school shifts the emphasis from managing behavior to focusing on the building, nurturing
and repairing of relationships. “ (Hopkins, 2003).

Restorative justice has been used in the criminal justice systems for many years, and has made its way to school systems, workplaces, and religious institutions (Zehr & Gohar, 2002)
. The founder, Howard Zehr states restorative justice is based on three pillars: harms and needs, obligation, and engagement of stakeholders (Wolpert-Gawron, 2016). In schools, the teacher serves as the mediator and the victim and offender follow a process to allow the offender to fix the mistake and allow the students to move on passed the issue. By moving on, students learn to forgive, not hold grudges, and that will help decrease bullying. Restorative Justice major component is the circles or conferences, which are used to heal communities.
In circles, teachers, parents, offender and victim come together to come up with an agreement and allows the offender to realize how he/she can come to amends. The decrease in suspension rates is also eye opening, Ms. Long explains that a Dallas school who implemented restorative justice a year ago has had a 70% decrease in school suspension and the amount of students who were sent to alternative schools were cut in half (2016). Restorative justice also proclaims that zero tolerance policies are ineffective, and this process has labeled students as delinquents because as they are suspended, they are being referred into juvenile justice agencies, which is now, know has the “school-to-prison pipeline”. The restorative approach claims that it will assist in keeping the students out of the school-to-prison pipeline, by finding ways to repair relationships, hold students accountable, and coming to an agreement (Schiff,
2013)
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On the other hand, there has been a weakness found in this trend. Many proclaim that there is not enough research to support that this approach works. Also, throughout my research, I have found that it can easily be implemented incorrectly, and mistaken as a quick fix, which is not. Lastly, many believe restorative justice should not be used in violent crimes or major issues and that many victims “refuse to be part of the meeting”. The article I read stated, that restorative justice “is not the magic solution to all evils” and should be an option for some cases but not for all situations a victim faces (Gaudreault, 2015). Zehr believes that greatest attribute that restorative justice has is the ability of students to be able to “explore our values”. I agree with Zehr, because restorative justice allows the victim and offender to feel valued and cared for. Also, Zehr also describes restorative justice in one word “respect”, to me that is a correct summary of what restorative justice means. The importance of teaching students that even though we might not like a person, we still have to respect them. Even though the offender hurt the victim, the victim need to understand that the offender is still a person and that person's differences need to be respected (Zehr & Gohar,
2002). Restorative justice is a “promising approach to address climate, culture, and safety issues” in schools (Fronius, Perrson, Guckenburg, Hurley, & Petrosino, 2016). As a counselor, I believe that this trend can have an effective impact in schools. I strongly believe that restorative justice can help build strong relationships among students and teachers and also build a strong school community. I will be benefited as a counselor because it will increase family participation and make them more aware in their child’s education. A strong school community will help the counselor reduce drop out rates and increase student’s success. Lastly, the classroom circles will also help the counselor in guiding the teachers in building relationships and trust. If the teachers build a strong relationship with the students, the counselor will be able to counsel the more severe students more frequently. Since teachers will be counseling daily in classroom circles. In conclusion, I do believe that restorative justice can be a powerful asset in schools. I do not foresee this trend disappearing quickly, but expanding once enough research supports its claims. Lastly, I believe that it will benefit all areas of the schools and build a stronger school community, when implemented correctly. The drop out rates will decrease and students will be able to have an opportunity find success.