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About the Forums
People who choose to live their lives guided by restorative principles and values, including some
restorative justice practitioners, choose a path which is often difficult and sometimes isolating.
We offer this opportunity for people interested in restorative justice to engage in online dialogue
and share perspectives and ideas on topics of concern or interest.
Around the Circle offers space for open discussion or reflections on a particular theme. We encourage
you to post your responses to others’ postings.
Themes include:
“Can restorative processes be used for serious or violent offences?”
“What is the role of restorative justice in schools?”
“Government-run vs. Grassroots restorative justice programs”
“Can restorative justice programs continue to function under-resourced?”
“How can restorative justice be used in cases of domestic violence?”
“How do we create meaningful values-based evaluation tools for restorative justice programs?”
Dialogue Moderators will open these themes, perhaps inviting a guest to speak to the issue, and will monitor
“Around the Circle”. They will, from time to time and with the permission of the author, be posting excerpts
from “Around the Circle” to the “Dialogue” section.
Guidelines for Around the Circle
As with all restorative processes, common understandings and expectations help
to create safe space for participants to share openly.
Cornerstone to any restorative process is values; values of honesty, respect and
inclusion. We expect anyone who participates in the dialogues to endeavour to
uphold these values. If you are concerned that someone is posting content
which you consider to be contrary to these values, please feel free to express
curiosity about why they are doing so in private email discussions. We reserve
the right to remove any postings which are disrespectful of another, or use
inappropriate language.
We ask that anything shared about a third party be done so only with their
expressed permission (unless it is information considered to be in the public
domain). Please recognize the open nature of on-line dialogue and expect
anything shared to be considered public. With that understanding, if content
from this site is used elsewhere, please credit the original author.
Endeavour where possible to write from personal experience. Where information
about a third party or a resource is shared, please express why this information
helped you, what you learned from it or what it helped you to realize.
Please allow for pauses and thought to season our dialogues. Make space for
many diverse views to be expressed. Seek first to understand, then to be
understood.
If you have ideas for worthwhile topics for discussion, or wish to volunteer as a
Dialogue Moderator, please contact the Centre Coordinator at mlegan@sfu.ca.
