Dr. Howard Zehr is widely recognized as a major restorative justice pioneer. His insights grew out of his work on the first victim offender encounter program in the US. His book, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice is considered a foundational work in the restorative justice movement. He is currently Professor of Sociology and Restorative Justice in Eastern Mennonite University’s graduate Conflict Transformation Program in the United States.

Prior to that time, Howard served as director of the Mennonite Central Committee U. S. Office on Crime and Justice. In addition, he was founder and Director of the Elkhart County PACT, now the Center for Community Justice, the first U.S. Victim Offender Reconciliation Program.

He began his justice career as an Associate Professor and Co-director of the Social Science and the Law Project at Talladega College (Talladega, AL).

Howard has also worked professionally as a photographer and photojournalist in North America and internationally. Howard not only teaches and writes but lectures extensively and serves as a trainer and consultant to community groups, justice practitioners, criminal justice officials and universities in North America and internationally. During the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh (1997), Howard was appointed by the federal court to assist the defense in working with victims, yet an ongoing initiative.

Leading Edge. Howard’s current research focus is on the roles of victims in restorative justice and on restorative justice in severe violence. His new book, Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims (Good Books, Fall 2001) presents words and portraits of victims/survivors of severe violence

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Prison Fellowship International Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, for the content of this biography which first appeared in the Leading Edge at http://www.restorativejustice.org. Any errors or omissions belong to the Centre for Restorative Justice.