Religion /
Interfaith Lectures
Week Six — July 28–August 3
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior to the community as well as to the victim, and is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include all stakeholders, including the perpetrator. It is fundamentally different from retributive justice in that it puts energy into the future, not into what is past; into healing the victim, the community, and the perpetrator. This week will place the focus on what needs to be healed, what needs to be repaid to the victim and society, and what needs to be learned and changed in the wake of crime.
Confirmed Lecturers
Monday 7/29 |
Tuesday 7/30 |
Wednesday 7/31 |
Thursday 8/1 |
Friday 8/2 |
Carolyn Boyes-Watson |
Jacques Verduin |
Kay Pranis |
Father Greg Boyle |
Bruce Western |
Monday, July 29
Carolyn Boyes-Watson
Carolyn Boyes-Watson is Professor of Sociology at Suffolk University and founding Director of the Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk University, where she teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in Restorative Justice. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University and has been studying the criminal justice system for over twenty-five years. She has published extensively about the Restorative Justice Movement with special focus on the peacemaking circle. Her most recent publications include Bringing Justice Home: Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth (Living Justice Press: MN) and Heart of Hope: A Guide for Using Peacemaking Circles to Develop Emotional Literacy, Promote Healing, and Build Healthy Relationships with Kay Pranis.
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Tuesday, July 30
Jacques Verduin
dir., Insight Out Prison Project
Jacques Verduin, MA Somatic Psych. is a father, community organizer, and teacher. He is the Founding Director of the Insight Prison Project (IPP), a non-profit that since 1997 pioneers innovative in-prison rehabilitation programs in San Quentin. In 2011 he founded Insight-Out (ISO), which provides services and self-development opportunities to prisoners and challenged youth, and empowers them to positively transform their predicament. The Prison Mindfulness Initiative (PMI) is a new initiative that is sponsored by ISO. Jacques has trained former prisoners to act as Change Agents in the community, working to prevent violence and incarceration. He is a subject matter expert on mindfulness, emotional intelligence, restorative justice, and transforming violence. He has worked in prisons for 17 years and serves as a catalyst for statewide prison reform in California.
Insight-Out
Prison Mindfulness Initiative
In the news:
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Wednesday, July 31 1
Kay Pranis
Kay Pranis is a long-time leader in the Restorative Justice Movement. Having learned about Peacemaking Circles in her work in Restorative Justice in the mid-90s, she has been teaching and writing about the dialogue process known as Peacemaking Circles ever since. Her initial teachers in the circle work were Barry Stuart, a judge in Yukon, Canada, and Mark Wedge and Harold Gatensby, First Nations people of Yukon. Since that initial exposure to the use of peacemaking circles in the justice system, Kay has been involved in developing the use of peacemaking circles in schools, social services, churches, families, museums, universities, municipal planning, and workplaces throughout the United States and Canada.
Kay has authored or co-authored several books about circles: Peacemaking Circles - From Crime to Community; The Little Book of Circle Processes – A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking; Doing Democracy with Circles – Engaging Communities in Public Planning; Heart of Hope – A Guide for Using Peacemaking Circles to Develop Emotional Literacy, Promote Healing, & Build Healthy Relationships.
Kay works primarily as an independent trainer in the peacemaking circle process. She is also an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, Eastern Mennonite University, and Southwest Minnesota State University.
Kay has a particular interest in the use of circles to support social justice efforts addressing racial, economic, class, and gender inequities. That interest includes the use of peacemaking circles to understand and respond to historical harms to groups of people. The peacemaking circle process has become a growing source of energy, inspiration, and continuous learning for numerous peoples, communities, and justice organizations for over 15 years.
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Thursday, August 1
Father Greg Boyle
executive director and founder, Homeboy Industries
Father Gregory Boyle, founder and executive director of the Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, and a consultant to youth service and governmental agencies, policy-makers, and employers, is a nationally renowned speaker focusing on the importance of adult attention, guidance, and unconditional love in preventing youth from joining gangs. He serves on the U.S. Attorney General’s Defending Childhood Task Force. Known as Fr. Greg, he is a member of order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was ordained a priest in 1984. He received his BA in English from Gonzaga University; an MA in English from Loyola Marymount University; a Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology.
Having taught in Bolivia, in 1986 Fr. Boyle was appointed as Pastor of Dolores Mission in Los Angeles, where he served through 1992. During 1993, he served as Chaplain of the Islas Marias Penal Colony in Mexico and Folsom Prison, before returning to Los Angeles and Dolores Mission.
In 1988 Fr. Greg had created “Jobs for a Future” (JFF) at Dolores Mission parish. To address the unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Fr. Greg and the community developed an elementary school, a day care program, and legitimate employment for young people. In 1992 Fr. Greg launched the first business, Homeboy Bakery, under the banner of JFF and Proyecto Pastoral. The mission was to create an environment for training, work experience, and the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side. JFF became an independent non-profit organization, Homeboy Industries, in 2001. Today Homeboy Industries’ nonprofit economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Diner at Los Angeles City Hall, Homeboy Farmers Markets, Homeboy Silkscreen & Embroidery, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, and Homegirl Café & Catering.
Father Greg’s first book, Tattoos on the Heart: the Power of Boundless Compassion, was named as one of the Best Books of 2010 by Publishers Weekly, and is the PEN USA 2011 Best Creative Nonfiction Book of the Year. Tattoos on the Heart debuted in paperback in February 2011 and the audio book followed in March 2011.
On Being — The Calling of Delight: Gangs, Service, Kinship
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Friday, August 2
Bruce Western
Professor of Sociology at Harvard University
faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Bruce Western is Professor of Sociology at Harvard University and a member of the faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. His research interests are in the field of social stratification and inequality, political sociology, and statistical methods. He is the author of Punishment and Inequality in America, a study of the growth and social impact of the American penal system. His first book, Between Class and Market, examined the development and decline of labor unions in the postwar industrialized democracies. He is currently studying the social impact of rising income inequality in the United States. Western taught at Princeton from 1993 to 2007 and received his PhD in sociology from UCLA.
