A New Paradigm for Youth Justice: Restorative Justice Approaches

This webinar was hosted by YouthREX.

HERE’S HOW THE HOSTS DESCRIBE THIS WEBINAR:

This webinar provides a background description of restorative justice approaches for working with youth involved with the law, suggestions for integrating restorative justice approaches into your work, and an example from a community-based youth program. It was a follow up to our last webinar, Supporting Positive Outcomes for Youth Involved with the Law, which was based on our recently launched Research to Practice report. In both the last webinar and report, we provide a high level overview of the impact of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) and argue that punitive approaches to youth justice may entrench or exacerbate harm. The YCJA enables the provision of extrajudicial community-based youth diversion and re-integration supports as an alternative.

Rick Kelly describes how restorative justice processes take a holistic approach to reparation, unlike punitive approaches. A restorative justice approach involves the victim, the offender, and the community in a search for solutions which promote repair, reconciliation, and reassurance. Zainab Godwin, Manager of the Youth Justice Department at For Youth Initiative (FYI), describes how a restorative approach can be applied in a community-based youth justice program context, using the example of the R.I.S.E. (Re-Integrating the Socially Excluded) program at FYI.

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