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All of us, whether victims of crime, offenders, employees in the criminal justice system, family members or neighbours, are called to find paths to a justice system which reconciles; which rejects attitudes of revenge; which helps victims to heal and offenders to turn their life around. It is the only true path to the security and safety that our society longs for. New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Revenge or Reconciliation, 2009 Ideas for teacher professional development Learning outcomes Learners will: reflect on the notion of justice and the links to Catholic social teaching v examine different notions of justice including Western, Māori and Biblical justice v consider attributes of retributive and restorative justice and how they are practised in your school v community read about a proactive restorative approach in schools v link restorative practice with Gospel values in the Catholic school curriculum. v The courage to forgive ILLUSTRATION: PETER LENDVAI. “Let justice roll like a river”

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Page 1: Ideas for professional development - Caritas for professional... · Ideas for teacher professional development ... This statue on top of the Old Bailey, ... Imposition of pain considered

All of us, whether victims of crime, offenders, employees in the criminal justice system, family

members or neighbours, are called to find paths to a justice system which reconciles; which

rejects attitudes of revenge; which helps victims to heal and offenders to turn their life around.

It is the only true path to the security and safety that our society longs for.

New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Revenge or Reconciliation, 2009

Ideas for teacher professional development

Learning outcomes

Learners will:

reflect on the notion of justice and the links to Catholic social teachingexamine different notions of justice including Western, Māori and Biblical justiceconsider attributes of retributive and restorative justice and how they are practised in your school community

read about a proactive restorative approach in schoolslink restorative practice with Gospel values in the Catholic school curriculum.

The courage to forgive

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Justice and Catholic social teaching

Let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.

Amos 5: 24

The Catholic Church has been as vocal as the prophet Amos about social justice and human dignity. Our

concern is rooted in the teachings of the Bible, but there is also a rich collection of documents that explain what

we call Catholic social teaching.

The following are some of the key themes of Catholic social teaching:

All people have a unique dignity from God that must be respected.We must care for the common good of our world community, not just our own individual concerns.We must have a concern for poor people.We must protect the rights of workers.We must care for God’s creation.We must promote peace and rid ourselves of weapons of mass destruction.We must work so that the world’s wealth is distributed fairly among all people.

Adapted from Break through! The Bible for Young Catholics, St Mary’s Press, 2006, p 1322

The principles of Catholic social teaching provide

a blueprint for how we can live more justly, share more generously,

and act with mercy towards everyone.

Reflection

How are the principles of Catholic social teaching embedded

in our philosophy, identity and professional practice?

Consider the recurring Biblical themes of fall and recovery, loss

and renewal, failure and forgiveness, exile and return. There

is a clear pattern in the teachings of Jesus of failure, recovery

and celebration – for example, the parables of the treasure, the

pearl, the weeds and the wheat, the lost coin, the lost son and

the lost sheep.

Let us quietly reflect for a moment and consider the good

news from Matthew 5: 48:

“Live generously and graciously toward others, the way

God has lived towards you.”

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Activity

Background information on the theme of justice

and reconciliation

Find out about the Christian approach to justice and reconciliation.

Caritas social justice booklet Number 14, A justice that reconciles, is included

in this package. More copies are available through the Caritas office or can be

downloaded from our website: http://www.caritas.org.nz/.

If there is not enough time to work through the booklet you could use the

PowerPoint on this CD ROM, which gives an account of many of the important

points made in the booklet.

View the PowerPoint A justice that reconciles summary.

Discuss the information and ideas presented around crime and punishment, especially in relation to what is

happening in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Share important words or phrases from the Bishops’ statement Revenge or Reconciliation which you will find at

the front of the booklet A justice that reconciles.

God calls even the worst of offenders to change, and offers healing to

those victims of crime able to find the courage to forgive.

New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Revenge or Reconciliation, 2009

Different notions of justice

Western justice

The focus of Western criminal justice systems is the judgement and punishment of offenders, whose actions are

measured against the formal rules (laws) of society. In Western justice models, a crime is treated primarily as an

offence against the state. So the state, through the police and courts, takes responsibility for, and control of, the

dispensation of justice. Victims of crime and their families and communities are to a large extent excluded from

the workings of the criminal justice system. Justice is ‘handed down to’ offenders, and commonly has a strong

punitive element to it, which may take the form of a prison sentence or a fine. Imprisonment is more or less the

mainstay of the modern (adult) criminal justice system in the West. Prisoners are cut off from their communities

and society, and there is little possibility for reconciliation and healing for victims or offenders.

Maori justice

Pre-European Māori justice was based on the belief that social responsibilities linked all people to their wider

communities. Thus Māori society viewed crime as an offence against the person affected and their community,

with justice requiring the repair of damaged relationships and the restoration of mana – not only to victims

and their families, but also to the family of the offender. Meetings of the affected whānau and hapū provided a

forum for parties to be heard, with decisions often arrived at through community consensus. Traditional forms

of compensation included utu and muru, commonly but mistakenly referred to as ‘revenge’ and ‘plunder’. In

fact, utu and muru were about the need to restore social relationships through compensation and reparation.

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Imprisonment, which arrived with the British settlers, was anathema to Māori, and strongly resisted. Another

important foundation concept in Māori justice was the belief that all people had tapu, which should be

acknowledged by other people.

Biblical justice

At the heart of Biblical justice are themes of redemption and transformation. God’s divine love, and its

redeeming and transformative power, is intended for all people, especially ‘sinners’. This was the gospel that

Jesus preached. In 1995, the Catholic Bishops of New Zealand stated that compassion, mercy, healing, sanction

(where appropriate), and forgiveness (leading to reconciliation) were central to a fair and just criminal justice

system.1 These qualities and features are captured neatly by the Biblical term shalom, which refers to the total

wellbeing of a community or society. Justice is also seen by the prophet Amos as something transforming,

when he uses the symbol of a river: “Let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes

dry” (Amos 5: 24).

The disproportionate reliance on imprisonment as the principal form of sanction in modern Western

democracies does not sit easily alongside Biblical visions of justice, such as Amos ’ ‘flowing river’. The New

Zealand Catholic Bishops have gone so far as to say that prisons are destructive of people’s humanity, and

that the tougher penal institutions in New Zealand are “an affront to human dignity” and “a poison in the

bloodstream of the nation”.

The good news that Jesus proclaimed, as foretold by Isaiah, included the promise of “liberty for the captive”

(Luke 4:16-18). Jesus also challenged those in a position to condemn others in society to examine carefully their

own conscience and practices (John 8: 3-11).2

Discuss

What other notions of justice do you know about that you

can share with the group?

What ideas strike you as important to consider as a school

community?

This statue on top of the Old Bailey, the central criminal

court of the United Kingdom, holds the scales of justice and a

sword.

1 New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: Creating new hearts – moving from retributive to restorative justice, 1995

2 New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: Bishops Back Penal Reform, 1989

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Understanding the attributes of retributive and restorative justice

Retributive lens Restorative lens

Blame-fixing central Problem-solving central

Focus on past Focus on future

Needs of victim secondary Needs of victim primary

Battle model; adversarial Dialogue normative

Emphasises differences Searches for commonalities

Imposition of pain considered normative Restoration and reparation considered normative

One social injury added to another Emphasis on repair of social injuries

Harm by offender balanced by harm to offender Harm by offender balanced by making right

Focus on offender; victim ignored Victim’s needs central

State and offender are key elements Victim and offender are key elements

Victims lack information Information provided to victims

Restitution rare Restitution normal

Victims’ ‘truth’ secondary Victims given chance to ‘tell their truth’

Victims’ suffering ignored Victims’ suffering lamented and acknowledged

Action from state to offender; offender passive Offender given role in solution

State monopoly on response to wrongdoing Victim, offender and community roles recognised

Offender has no responsibility for resolution Offender has responsibility in resolution

Outcomes encourage offender irresponsibility Responsible behaviour encouraged

Rituals of personal denunciation and exclusion Rituals of lament and reordering

Offender denounced Harmful act denounced

Offender’s ties to community weakened Offender’s integration into community increased

Response based on offender’s past behaviour Response based on consequences of offender’s behaviour

Repentance and forgiveness discouraged Repentance and forgiveness encouraged

Proxy professions are the key actors Victim and offender central; professional help available

Competitive, individualistic values encouraged Mutuality and cooperation encouraged

Ignores social, economic and moral context of behaviour Total context relevant

Assumes win-lose outcomes Makes possible win-win outcomes

Offender seen in fragments, offence being definitional Offender viewed holistically

Sense of balance through retribution Sense of balance through restitution

Balance righted by lowering offender Balance righted by raising both victim and offender

Justice tested by intent and process Justice tested by its ‘fruits’

Justice as right rules Justice as right relationships

Victim-offender relationships ignored Victim-offender relationships central

Process alienates Process aims at reconciliation

From Howard Zehr, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, Scottdale Herald Press, 1990, pp 211-214

Activity

In pairs, highlight any statements in either/both columns that are included in your school behaviour

management system.

Provide an example, for instance:

Retributive lens – justice as right rules when student stood down from attending school for a week.

Restorative lens – students asked to focus on the future during the restorative conversation and make a

plan to restore or repair.

Share your work with another pair. Where do you think your school is on a continuum of retributive/restorative

practice?

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How you get there determines where you finally arrive.

Richard Rohr, Things Hidden – Scripture as spirituality, 2008, p 174

A restorative approach in schools

The restorative approach to behaviour management in schools has its origins in restorative justice and

victim-offender mediation. Restorative practice is part of the way schools are developing safe and supportive

environments that promote connectedness to the school, student wellbeing, and healthy relationships

between everyone within the school community.

In essence, a restorative philosophy sets out to heal relationships that have been disturbed by wrongdoing. It

follows a respectful process within a collaborative “community of care” (the phrase used by Morrison in Bullying

and victimization in schools: A restorative approach, 2002). In this process the wrongdoer is held accountable and

given an opportunity to reflect on and repair the breakdown in the relationship. The restorative philosophy is

consistent with social emotional learning, values education and citizenship.

The restorative approach in schools means redefining behaviour management away from a punitive, retributive

approach towards a relationship management approach. Teachers use relational language that demonstrates

care, respect and mutual responsibility. Conversations are held using affective questions and statements:

Can you explain what happened?

How did it happen?

How did you act in this situation?

Who do you think has been affected by this?

How were they affected?

How were you affected?

What needs to happen to make things right?

If the same situation happens again what could you do differently?

Other techniques include classroom circles and community conferences.

A restorative approach is “most effective when it is part of a whole school approach where everyone in the

school community makes quality relationships a priority”.

This discussion is based on the excerpt ‘A Restorative Approach to Behaviour Management’; sourced 9/06/09 from

www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/swap/wellbeing/teachers/environment/restorative.html.

In a 2005 paper, educationalists Peta Blood and Margaret Thorsborne said: “Restorative practice in schools is

much more than conferencing serious misconduct. We are working in a community that has long term and

deep relationships between all its members who need to co-exist in a healthy way for learning outcomes to be

met.” They add that the “implementation of restorative practice risks the fate of many other well intentioned

programmes unless we understand what it takes to change the hearts and minds of our school communities

and are prepared to learn from our past”.

From ‘The Challenge of Culture Change: Embedding Restorative Practice in Schools’,

2005; sourced 9/06/09 from http://www.thorsborne.com.au/papers.htm.

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Activity

Note down one thing that stands out for you in the above information on a restorative approach in 1.

schools.

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

2. What are the implications for your school if you are to fully implement restorative practice? For

instance, what is needed to change the hearts and minds of some people within the school

community?

The following section is based on the discussion by Janis Carroll-Lind in the New Zealand Journal of

Teachers’ Work, 2005, Vol 2, Issue 2, 94-99: ‘ “I must respect my teacher, I must respect my teacher, I must

respect my teacher …” The Merits of Giving Out Lines as a Punishment’.

3. To what extent could these strategies be implemented into your school behaviour management plan?

Summary of basic concepts

Restorative practice offers a new way for school discipline.

Some basic concepts of a restorative justice approach include:

Respect

Fairness

Support and affirmation

Belonging

Participation and empowerment

Responsibility and repair

Reintegration

Healing and forgiveness

Proactive strategies include:

Arranging restorative conversation/conferences

Planning actions that will restore the broken relationship

Learning how to handle the situation differently next time

Practical examples of how this might look in a conference

Positive behaviour supports

4W Form (4 questions beginning with ‘what’)

What I did against our class or school rules1.

What rights or rules I broke or infringed2.

What is my explanation?3.

What I think I should do to fix things up or work things out4.

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THINK SHEET

This is the rule I broke

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I chose to break this rule because

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Who was affected when I broke this rule?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

This is what I could have done instead

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

What needs to happen now?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

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Restorative practice linked to Gospel values in the

Catholic school curriculum

Activity

In pairs or small groups, talk over how the Gospel values below link with values underlying

the restorative justice philosophy.

Gospel values of FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE encapsulate:

Compassion

Stewardship/Excellence

Wonder and awe/Innovation, inquiry and curiosity

Dignity of the person/Diversity

Solidarity with the poor/Equity

Community/Community and partnership

Respect for all life/Ecological sustainability

Integrity/Integrity

Self-control/Respect

Other, including Charism

The list above adds a Gospel dimension to each of the values detailed in the Ministry of

Education’s New Zealand Curriculum 2008. (The Gospel values appear first in bold, and are taken

from Catholic School Curriculum Design and Review: Three-step development markers 2007-2010.)

Values underlying the restorative

justice philosophy

Respect

Fairness

Support and affirmation

Belonging

Participation and empowerment

Responsibility and repair

Reintegration

Healing

Forgiveness

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