Rami El Gharib (he/him) is a Lebanese Restorative Justice practitioner. Rami was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon but moved to the United States in 2018 to escape the criminalization of homosexuality in his home country, and to pursue a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of New Haven. Rami serves as the Juvenile Justice Program Manager for King County, Washington. Rami is the founder of the ⁠Restorative Rainbow Alliance⁠, an Alliance which aims to introduce a LGBTQ+ lens into the field of Restorative Justice by providing extra care for LGBTQ+ victims of hate crimes and assisting facilitators in understanding the extra levels of harm that LGBTQ+ individuals may face, as well as creating virtual safe spaces. Rami is also the founder of The Space, a LGBTQ+ youth safe space in Colorado that utilizes Restorative Circles to assess the needs of LGBTQ+ youth in the Region. The Space was funded by the State of Colorado’s Restorative Justice Council.

Jasmyn Story (they/them) is an international Restorative Justice Facilitator, Doula, and the founder of ⁠Honeycomb Justice⁠ and ⁠Freedom Farm Azul⁠. Named one of Vice’s 31 People Making History by Creating a Better Future, they are a dedicated human rights activist with a decade of experience working in the voluntary sector. As the former Deputy Director of Social Justice & Racial Equity for the Office of the Mayor of Birmingham, Jasmyn co-led the launch of the State of Alabama’s first government-sustained Women’s Initiative. This decentralized movement aims to interrupt the cycles of harm plaguing Birmingham’s women, children, trans, and non-binary folk. After completing their M.A. in Human Rights at the University College London, they are currently completing their Ph.D. as a third-generation Tuskegee University student. Today, they serve the national office of the Sierra Club as the Conflict Transformation Strategic Advisor.

Stas Schmiedt (they/them) is a nonbinary BlaQ-Italian storyteller, transformative justice practitioner, abolitionist organizer, healer, and survivor based on Ute, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne lands (also called Denver, Colorado). They are a co-founder, vision keeper, and imaginatrix at Spring Up and bluelight academy of the liberatory arts.

Ames Stenson (they/them) hails from Denver, Colorado and their family tree has been rooting on stolen land in the west since the 1700s. Ames currently serves as the program manager with the ⁠City of Englewood, CO Municipal Court Restorative Justice Program⁠; the board president for the Colorado Coalition for Restorative Justice Practices; a founding board member of the Restorative Rainbow Alliance; previously served as the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice’s online programming coordinator and recently retired from seven years of teaching as an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work. They have a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, a master’s in Theological Studies and a master’s in Social Work and consider themselves to be a lifelong learner. Ames loves spending time with their family, Kyla and Russ, and doing all-things-fun from travel to sports to geocaching – it’s a yes!

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Watch the recording of the "Justice Through a Queer Lens" panel here.

This project is supported by Grants No. 2020-MU-CX-K001 and No. 15PBJA-20-GK-00035 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view, images, or opinions in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Most states now have legislation that endorses restorative justice. This episode explores questions such as: How important is legislation for restorative justice implementation? What can legislation provide? How does it limit or ensure best practice? What advocacy is needed to promote policy change? How can restorative justice practitioners and programs collaborate to have greater political influence?

In Colorizing Restorative Justice, practitioners of color relate their experiences in the field, examining the inherent contradiction of using these practices within Western, white dominant, settler societies. This episode will explore questions around how cultural competency can be prioritized in equitable systems design, including: How do we account for our own implicit biases when building equitable systems? How do we monitor bias in facilitator discretion? How can we ensure that communities most impacted by inequities in the criminal legal system are included in equitable systems design, implementation, and facilitation?

Around the United States, restorative justice programs establish different criteria for eligibility for restorative justice including the age of the responsible party, the willingness of the harmed party for the case to go through restorative justice, the type of offense, prior record, and more. There is also an extensive range of subjective measures that decision-makers responsible for referrals to restorative justice programs weigh in considering suitability. These factors and more can create significant inequity in access to restorative justice. This episode explores the issue of inequitable access to restorative justice and potential solutions.

Procedural justice concerns the fairness and transparency of the processes by which decisions are made, and may be contrasted with retributive justice (fairness in the punishment of wrongs). Allowing all parties to be heard before a decision is made is one step which may lead to a process being characterized and perceived as procedurally fair. Some theories of procedural justice hold that fair procedure leads to equitable outcomes, even if the requirements of restorative justice are not met. This episode explores the integration of procedural justice and fairness into restorative justice practices as a way to increase the perception of fairness in equitable systems design.

Rami El Gharib is a Lebanese Restorative Justice practitioner. Rami was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon but moved to the United States in 2018 to escape the criminalization of homosexuality in his home country, and to pursue a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of New Haven. Rami recently joined Georgia Justice Project (GJP) as the organization’s first Restorative Justice Program Manager. In his role, Rami supports GJP in efforts to build Georgia’s first restorative justice program taking referrals of felony cases involving adults, or youth who are tried as adults. The program, Restorative Justice Georgia, is partnering with local District Attorney offices in the Metro Atlanta area. Before his role at GJP, Rami facilitated adult and juvenile violent crime Restorative Conferences and Victim Offender Dialogues in Colorado. Additionally, Rami is the founder of the Restorative Rainbow Alliance, an Alliance which aims to introduce a LGBTQ+ lens into the field of Restorative Justice by providing extra care for LGBTQ+ victims of hate crimes and assisting facilitators in understanding the extra levels of harm that LGBTQ+ individuals may face, as well as creating virtual safe spaces. Rami is also the founder of The Space, a LGBTQ+ youth safe space in Colorado that utilizes Restorative Circles to assess the needs of LGBTQ+ youth in the Region. The Space was funded by the State of Colorado’s Restorative Justice Council.

Jasmyn Story is an international Restorative Justice Facilitator, Doula, and the founder of Honeycomb Justice and Freedom Farm Azul. Named one of Vice’s 31 People Making History by Creating a Better Future, they are a dedicated human rights activist with a decade of experience working in the voluntary sector. As the former Deputy Director of Social Justice & Racial Equity for the Office of the Mayor of Birmingham, Jasmyn co-led the launch of the State of Alabama’s first government-sustained Women’s Initiative. This decentralized movement aims to interrupt the cycles of harm plaguing Birmingham’s women, children, trans, and non-binary folk. After completing their M.A. in Human Rights at the University College London, they are currently completing their Ph.D. as a third-generation Tuskegee University student. Today, they serve the national office of the Sierra Club as the Conflict Transformation Strategic Advisor.

This project is supported by Grants No. 2020-MU-CX-K001 and No. 15PBJA-20-GK-00035 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view, images, or opinions in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Restorative justice researchers Heather Strang and Larry Sherman (2015) argue, “In the past two decades, restorative justice has been the subject of more rigorous criminological research than perhaps any other strategy for crime prevention and victim support.” But this growing empirical evidence does not always inform program design and implementation. This episode explores the role of research and evaluation to support equitable systems design.

This project is supported by Grants No. 2020-MU-CX-K001 and No. 15PBJA-20-GK-00035 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view, images, or opinions in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Many restorative justice programs have been launched by people who are passionate and experienced restorative justice practitioners. They were careful to build their programs with great attention to detail and fidelity to best practices. But when they have tried to expand their programs to handle greater caseloads or across jurisdictions, they have faced challenges including cooptation, deviation from best practices, and case management by people who have little experience with restorative justice. This episode explores these and other challenges to scaling restorative justice.

This project is supported by Grants No. 2020-MU-CX-K001 and No. 15PBJA-20-GK-00035 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view, images, or opinions in this podcast and are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Restorative justice processes and practices in the United States associated with all stages of the criminal legal system have grown exponentially over the last three decades. From community-based pilot programs to national technical assistance and training, the interest in restorative approaches has generated challenges and opportunities for system design. Drawing on community-centered, participatory, and critical methodologies, this episode centers the direct question of what does it mean to define equitable systems design?

In this episode, hosts LTomay Douglas and Alanna Ojibway speak with Christina Parker, who is one author of the chapter “Who’s In and Who’s Out: Problematizing Peacemaking Circles in Diverse Classrooms” in Colorizing Restorative Justice. Christina’s work provides a critical lens of the way peacemaking circles in classrooms do not always provide a safe space to include the voices of marginalized students.

In this episode, hosts LTomay Douglas and Alanna Ojibway speak with Dr. Johonna McCants-Turner about her journey from youth organizing to transformative justice and how listening to the lived experiences and wisdom of youth can provide some of the most valuable insight into the ways safety/justice are defined and approached. Johonna offers a critical discussion not only individual experiences of harm and violence, but to challenge and transform the conditions that lead to those instances of harm to begin with.