Making space for restorative justice in criminal justice and criminology curricula and courses

Abstract

Restorative justice, rooted in the practices of indigenous people across the globe, has grown exponentially in both theory and practice since its beginnings in Canada in the 1970s. Restorative justice has influenced the interactions between offenders and victims, helped community members address crime and develop self-efficacy, and changed the way some countries rebuild after a history of oppression. Despite these restorative justice influenced changes, many criminology and criminal justice programs pay scant attention to restorative justice in curricula. This paper will examine ways to include restorative justice in criminal justice and criminology curriculum and the challenges involved in the process. The paper will then examine how the Law and Justice Department at Central Washington University has incrementally added restorative justice components to its curriculum, culminating most recently with the addition of a Community and Social Justice course. The paper will conclude with several examples of classroom activities and assignments that have helped connect students with the theory and practice of restorative justice.

Keywords:

• restorative justice
• criminal justice curriculum
• criminal justice education
• criminal justice pedagogy

Notes

1. The top ten doctoral programs ranked by US News and World Report in 2009 for Criminology (but also including Criminal Justice) were The University of Maryland – College Park, The University of Albany – SUNY, The University of Cincinnati, The University of Missouri – St. Louis, Pennsylvania State University – University Park, The University of California – Irvine, Florida State University, Michigan State University, Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey, Newark, and CUNY—John Jay College.

2. From our initial observation, it appears that developing a separate program or a center attached to an existing program may involve somewhat different processes than inoculation and inclusion models for curriculum in existing criminology and criminal justice programs. For example, the Mennonite mission and history of both Fresno Pacific University and Eastern Mennonite University provide a receptive context for Peacemaking and Conflict Transformation programs. Additionally, these programs/centers allow for resources to be specifically devoted to the study and teaching of restorative justice processes, whereas curricular changes require this material to be included into an existing program and may require some faculty to master new material to present in their existing courses.