Our Community’s Response to Harm

A Restorative Justice Series for People Supporting Victims/Survivors

Thanks to generous funding from the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice, the Restorative Justice Collaborative Hub is launching a 4-part series for people working in the victim/survivor service field.* Learn how restorative justice responds to victims/survivors’ needs and examine how your services or supports overlap with this approach. Join us to help develop a more intentional safety net for community members who have been harmed.

All sessions held at the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center (1040 W Washington St., South Bend) from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM (complimentary breakfast buffet available beginning at 8:40 AM). Free books available for the first 20 registrants for each session.

*Ideal for people working directly with victims/survivors, people who shape and/or fund victim services (e.g., victim advocates, mental health professionals, policy makers, etc.)—and for people or organizations wanting to provide better support to victims and survivors.

Fall Sessions

Reclaiming Our Community’s Role in Justice : Whose responsibility is justice?

NEW DATE! Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024: REGISTER HERE

It is common to assume that authorities are in charge of justice, forgetting the role communities have in defining it and making it real. This session explains how restorative justice responds to the needs created by crime, and invites the community to reclaim some of the power and the responsibility we have asked authorities to carry for us.

Setting Our Intention for Justice: What do we want justice to accomplish? 

Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024; registration coming soon

When thinking about justice, people are more likely to think about what to do than about why. This session asks what we want a justice response to accomplish—compliance or mutual responsibility?—and unpacks what restorative justice can offer that punishment cannot. 

Spring Sessions

Assessing Our Justice Needs: What are we providing and what more is needed?

Date TBD; registration coming soon

What do people need after being harmed by others? What do people need after causing harm to others? What does the community already provide toward meeting those needs, and what more do we want to be doing?


Weaving a Stronger Justice Net: Where to from here?

Date TBD; registration coming soon

Meeting the needs that arise from harm—for victims, for survivors, for those held accountable, for friends and families, for the community—requires a wide range of commitments and services. How can we collaborate more fully and more effectively in service of being a more just community, delivering more justice to more people?

FAQs

  • Anyone interested in how this community responds to the harms done through crime or other kinds of injustice. You might be providing services to victims or survivors or you might be a community member wishing there were more or better services for victims and survivors.

  • No. They build on each other, but each one also stands alone.

  • No. Each session will highlight perspectives laid out more fully in a book we find valuable, and we have 20 copies available for those who want to learn more. But we will present everything needed for participating fully in each session.

  • Please do register ahead of time, so that we can plan for food and seating. But we will make space for all who want to participate.

Funded in part by generous funding from the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice.