Restorative Justice Books, Key Resources, Reports, and Links

SCHOOLS: K-12 (Books)

The School Leader’s Guide to Restorative School Discipline

by Luanna Meyer and Ian Evans

Taking Restorative Justice to Schools: A Doorway to Discipline

by Jeanette Holtham

Implementing Restorative Practices in Schools: A Practical Guide to Transforming School Communities

by Margaret Thorsborne and Peta Blood

Restorative Practice and Special Needs: A Practical Guide to Working Restoratively with Young People

by Nick Burnett and Margaret Thorsborne

Circle Forward: Building a Restorative School Community

by Carolyn Boyes-Watson & Kay Pranis

Just Schools: A Whole School Approach to Restorative Justice

by Belinda Hopkins

Circle in the Square: Building Community and Repairing Harm in School

by Nancy Riestenberg

Restorative Circles in Schools: Building Community & Enhancing Learning

by Bob Costello, Joshua Wachtel, and Ted Wachtel

The Restorative Practices Handbook: for Teachers, Disciplinarians and Administrators

by Bob Costello, Joshua Wachtel, and Ted Wachtel

Better Than Carrots or Sticks: Restorative Practices for Positive Classroom Management

by Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey

Kids Working It Out – Stories and Strategies for Making Peace in Our Schools

Edited by T.S. Jones and Randy Compton

The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools: Teaching Responsibility; Creating Caring Climates (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding)

by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Judy H. Mullet

(to order, contact the new publisher directly: Kathryn Mennone kmennone@skyhorsepublishing.com

860-664-0344)

The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility Healing and Hope in Schools (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding)

by Katherine Evans and Dorothy Vaandering

(to order, contact the new publisher directly: Kathryn Mennone kmennone@skyhorsepublishing.com

860-664-0344)

SCHOOLS: K-12
(Young Adult & Children’s Books)

The School Discipline Consensus Report

Council of State Governments, Justice Center, 2014

The School Discipline Consensus Report presents a comprehensive set of consensus-based and field-driven recommendations to improve conditions for learning for all students and educators, better support students with behavioral needs, improve police-schools partnerships, and keep students out of the juvenile justice system for minor offenses. More than 100 advisors representing policymakers, school administrators, teachers, behavioral health professionals, police, court leaders, probation officials, juvenile correctional leaders, parents, and youth from across the country helped develop more than two dozen policies and 60 recommendations to keep more students in productive classrooms and out of court rooms. Emphasizes restorative practices and PBIS.

Restorative Justice in Picture Books: Exploring Concepts

Kids Books About Restorative Justice

Using Children’s Books to Facilitate Restorative Justice Discussion

by Jessica Koltz, Sara Kersten-Parrish

Touching Spirit Bear

by Ben Mikkelsen

SCHOOLS: K-12
(Articles & Reports)

The Challenge of Culture Change: Embedding Restorative Practice in Schools

What restorative practice in schools can look like and some practical guidelines which represent a strategic approach to the implementation of restorative practices, so that they “stick” – that is, become sustainable.

Ron Classen, well-known RJ authority, describes his wife’s “misbehavior” management method, “Discipline that Restores” (DTR) that has transformed the classroom climate from hostile to collaborative through use of 9 principles.

Program Evaluation of Restorative Practice at One Elementary School

Dissertation on evaluating the use of restorative practices at One Elementary School to discover the pros and cons of the Restorative Practices program being implemented at this school.

https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1610&context=diss

Interview of Nancy Riestenberg, Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning, regarding implementation and evaluation of restorative practices in Minnesota schools.

“Restorative Action” curriculum for students, parents and staff in a British Columbia school district.

Restorative Justice and School Discipline: Mutually Exclusive?, a practitioner’s view of the impact of community conferencing in Queensland schools.

Colorado Restorative Practices in Schools Guidelines

Colorado Restorative Practices in Schools Guidelines

RJ Colorado, 2016

The collaborative creation of this guiding document was initiated in February 2016 by the Colorado Coordinating Council on Restorative Justice (RJ Council). Over fifty Restorative Practices in Schools practitioners, trainers, consultants, and researchers co-created the foundation for these guidelines. This is a living document, as is customary with the CO RJ Council guiding documents. It will be reviewed annually for updates and input from the Restorative Practices Community. This document will provide guidelines for Restorative Practices in Schools in Colorado, identifying key principles and practices and recommendations for best practices in implementation and training for restorative Practices in Schools.

A critique on implementing a restorative culture in Canadian schools which helps students to be accountable for their own behavior, to develop respect for self and others, and to strengthen their identity as capable, successful members of the community.  Some in-depth info regarding value of community and safety official involvement in program.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294582855_An_Exploration_of_the_Implementation_of_Restorative_Justice_in_an_Ontario_Public_School 



Taking Restorative Practices School-wide: Insights from Three Denver Schools

Taking Restorative Practices School-wide: Insights from Three Denver Schools

A report of the Denver School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership, Anyon, Y. 2016

Through interviews and focus groups with staff members at three Denver schools that have successfully implemented restorative practices (RP), four essential strategies for taking this approach school-wide were identified: strong principal vision and commitment to RP; explicit efforts to generate staff buy-in to this conflict resolution approach; continuous and intensive professional development opportunities; and, the allocation of school funds for a full-time coordinator of RP at the site. Additional approaches that supported the school-wide implementation of RP are described in the full report.

The experience of a head teacher working in partnership with Thames Valley Police between 1999 and 2004 to implement restorative approaches to a secondary school. Author reflects on the conclusions of the Youth Justice Board evaluation report on RJ in Schools initiative, identifying issues for developing restorative approaches in English schools.

http://www.iirp.org/library/schooldisc.html 




Model Code on Education and Dignity: Restorative Practices

Dignity in Schools, October 2013

The Model Code on Education and Dignity presents a set of recommended policies to schools, districts, and legislators to help end school pushout and protect the human rights to education, dignity, participation, and freedom from discrimination. The Code is the culmination of several years of research and dialogue with students, parents, educators, advocates, and researchers who came together to envision a school system that supports all children and young people in reaching their full potential. Model 2 is about Restorative Practices. In October 2013, DSC released a new revised version of the Model Code, which includes new sections on: social and emotional learning, prevention and response to bullying behavior, reducing tickets and summonses issued in school, reducing racial disparities in discipline through culturally responsive classroom management, creating safe schools for LGBTQ students and other topics.

Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline

U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division; U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, January 8, 2014

Emphasizes conflict resolution and restorative practices.

Spare the Rod: Amid Evidence that Zero Tolerance Doesn’t Work, Schools Reverse Themselves

American Public Media, Catherine Winter, Aug. 25, 2016

A get-tough attitude prevailed among educators in the 1980s and 1990s, but research shows that zero-tolerance policies don’t make schools safer and lead to disproportionate discipline for students of color.

Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning

Abolitionist Teaching Network, August 2020

This guide builds from the premise that injustice manifests differently in different schools and communities. Abolitionist Teaching cannot be distilled to a list of “best practices” because it is a way of life. Abolitionist Teachers believe that no Black, Brown, or Indigenous child is disposable. We must embody the spirit of Black Lives Mattering, not just say Black Lives Matter. This guide is an invitation for Abolitionist Teachers to individually and collectively generate critical reflection and action.

Equity Oriented Restorative Justice Resource Library

UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools CA MTSS Research Consortium

This library includes materials that your school can use to incorporate equity-oriented restorative policies and practices across all tiers of the MTSS framework. In response to the goals of CA-MTSS, the materials in this library focus on approaches that can reduce racial disparities in discipline by improving school climate. It is a huge library of very helpful resources, all linked to outside articles and reports.

Restorative Community Justice

Youth Offending and Restorative Justice: Implementing Reform in Youth Justice

by Adam Crawford and Tim Newburn

What is Community Justice?: Case Studies of Restorative Justice and Community Supervision (Key Questions for Criminal Justice)

by David R. (Reed) Karp and Todd R. Clear

Restorative Juvenile Justice: An Exploration of the Restorative Justice Paradigm for Reforming Juvenile Justice

by Lode Walgrave and Gordon Bazemore

Restorative Justice: Ideas, Practices, Debates

by Gerry Johnstone

Restorative Justice: Healing the Foundations of Our Everyday Lives

by Dennis Sullivan and Larry Tifft

Restorative Justice: Critical Issues (Crime, Order and Social Control)

by Eugene McLaughlin, Ross Fergusson, Gordon Hughes, and Louise Westmarland

Restorative Justice and Civil Society

by Eliza Ahmed, John Blad, Valerie Braithwaite, and Mia Claes

Restorative Community Justice; Repairing Harm and Transforming Communities

by Gordon Bazemore and Mara Schiff

Repositioning Restorative Justice

by Eliza Ahmed, John Blad, Valerie Braithwaite, and Mia Claes

Repairing Communities Through Restorative Justice

by John G. Perry (Editor)

Power: A New Social Analysis

by Bertrand Russell

The Little Book of Restorative Justice (Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding Series) (The Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding)

by Howard Zehr

Juvenile Justice Reform And Restorative Justice: Building Theory And Policy From Practice

by Gordon Bazemore, Mara Schiff, and S. Gordon Bazemore

The Handbook of Restorative Justice: A Global Perspective

by D Sullivan

Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences

by Howard Zehr (Photographer)

Critical Issues in Restorative Justice

by Howard Zehr and Barb Toews

Criminal Punishment And Restorative Justice: Past, Present And Future Perspectives

by David J. Cornwell and Tony Cameron

Compulsory Compassion: A Critique Of Restorative Justice (Law and Society)

by Annalise Acorn

Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice

by Howard Zehr

Accountability in Restorative Justice (Clarendon Studies in Criminology)

by Declan Roche

Higher Education

Restorative Justice on the College Campus: Promoting Student Growth and Responsibility, and Reawakening the Spirit of Campus Community

by David R. Karp and Thom Allena

Restorative Justice in the Justice and Corrections Systems

Restorative Justice: Prison As Hell or a Chance for Redemption?

Restorative Justice in Prisons: A Guide to Making It Happen

by Edgar Kimmett, Tim Newell, and Erwin James

Restorative Justice and the Law

by Lode Walgrave

Restorative Justice in Prisons: A Guide to Making It Happen

by Edgar Kimmett, Tim Newell, and Erwin James

Restorative Justice and the Law

by Lode Walgrave

The Little Book of Restorative Justice for People in Prison: Rebuilding the Web of Relationships (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding)

by Barb Toews

Corrections, Peacemaking, and Restorative Justice: Transforming Individuals and Institutions

by Michael Braswell, John R. Fuller, and Bo Lozoff

Restorative Justice and Organizations Workplace

Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future

The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (Thin Book Series)

Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership

by Joseph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers (Editor), Peter M. Senge (Introduction)

Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest

Freedom and Accountability at Work: Applying Philosophic Insight to the Real World

by Peter Koestenbaum (Author), Peter Block (Author)

The Fifth Discipline and the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work

The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters

by Peter Block

Mediation Conferencing and Circles

Women Circling the Earth: A Guide to Fostering Community, Healing and Empowerment

Wisdom Circles: Guide to Self Discovery & Community Building in Small Groups

Victim Meets Offender: The Impact of Restorative Justice and Mediation

by Mark S. Umbreit, Robert B. Coates, and Boris Kalanj

The Seven Whispers: Listening to the Voice of Spirit

Sacred Circles: A Guide To Creating Your Own Women’s Spirituality Group

Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community

by Kay Pranis, Barry Stuart, and Mark Wedge

The Millionth Circle: How to Change Ourselves and The World–The Essential Guide to Women’s Circles

Mediating Interpersonal Conflicts: A Pathway to Peace

by Mark S. Umbreit

The Little Book of Circle Processes: A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series)

by Kay Pranis

The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation: An Essential Guide to Practice and Research

by Mark S. Umbreit

Facing Violence: The Path of Restorative Justice and Dialogue

by Betty Vos, Robert B. Coates, Katherine A. Brown, and Mark S. Umbreit

Children and Youth

Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy!: Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind

What Kids Need to Succeed: Proven, Practical Ways to Raise Good Kids

Welcoming Our Children to a New Millennium

A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence

Shame & Guilt: Masters of Disguise

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall: A Parent’s Guide to the New Teenager, Revised and Updated

Children of Trauma: Rediscovering Your Discarded Self

by Jane Middelton-Moz (Author)

After the Tears: Reclaiming the Personal Losses of Childhood

Community

Community Building: What Makes It Work: A Review of Factors Influencing Successful Community Building

Communities That Care: Action for Drug Abuse Prevention (Jossey-Bass Social and Behavioral Science Series/Jossey-Bass Education Series)

by J. David Hawkins

The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits

Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

by Robert D. Putnam

Better Together: Restoring the American Community

by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein, and Donald J. Cohen

Conflict Transformation

Warriors of the Heart: A Handbook for Conflict Resolution

by Danaan Parry

Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity

by Arnold Mindell

The Shaman’s Body: A New Shamanism for Transforming Health, Relationships, and the Community

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, Bruce Patton, and Bruce Patton

Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation

by William Ury

The Deep Democracy of Open Forums: Practical Steps to Conflict Prevention and Resolution for the Family, Workplace, and World

by Arnold Mindell

International Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice: International Perspectives

by Burt Galaway and Joe Hudson

Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions

by Elmar Weitekamp, Hans-Jurgen Kerner, and International Conference on Restorative Justice

Rebuilding Community Connections – Mediation and Restorative Justice in Europe

by I Aertsen

Breaking Spears and Mending Hearts: Peacemakers and Restorative Justice in Bougainville

by Pat Howley

Peacemaking

Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation

by Jimmie Carter

The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary

by Angeles Arrien

Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies

by John Paul Lederach

Restorative Justice in the Context of Family and Domestic Violence

Return to the Teachings

by Ruppert Ross

Restorative Justice and Family Violence

by Heather Strang and John Braithwaite

Crime Victims

Victims, Mediation and Criminal Justice

by M. Wright

Understanding Victims and Restorative Justice

by James Dignan  

Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims

Repair or Revenge: Victims and Restorative Justice (Clarendon Studies in Criminology)

by Heather Strang

Ethan’s Chronicles

by Marsha Willis

Restorative Justice/Spirituality and Religion

To Know As We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey

by Parker J. Palmer

The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice (SUNY Series in Religious Studies)

by Michael L. Hadley

Restorative Justice: Toward Nonviolence, a discussion paper on crime and justice

by Virginia Mackey

The Mystic Heart of Justice: Restoring Wholeness in a Broken World

by Denise Breton

Justice As Healing

by Wanda D. McCaslin

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