Usually, like most news/opinion sites, we focus our attention on the problems. Today, we want to focus on some creative ways of working through them. As befitting an alternative news site, we want to highlight an alternative way of "doing justice".

::::::::

Apparently, corruption is increasing in the world. OpEdNews readers, a politically savvy bunch, are probably not surprised. After all, our world is filled with injustice and conflict. Not only is there corruption, but also poverty, racism, misogyny, and sex trafficking. And then there is violent crime, and civil disputes, and schoolyard bullying. Even our own homes are often filled with conflict, sometimes with our spouses, other times with our kids, occasionally with our friends or work colleagues.

Usually, like most news/opinion sites, we focus our attention on the problems. Today, we want to focus on some creative ways of working through them. As befitting an alternative news site, we want to highlight an alternative way of "doing justice".

For those of us living in the United States, "doing justice" is mostly synonymous with administering punishment. We may not literally follow the Biblical edict of "an eye for an eye", but most of us still believe that "the punishment must fit the crime". Indeed, many of us would be hard pressed to even come up with an alternative justice system or even imagine an alternative to punishment.

Yet, such alternative systems have existed for centuries and seem to be making a comeback. A little more than a year ago, I bumped into one such system, a particular approach to restorative justice called Restorative Circles (RC), a system developed by Dominic Barter and his collaborators in the shanty towns of urban Brazil. In the 15 months of relatively intense study that followed, the way that I think about conflict and justice became entirely transformed. Whereas before I only saw conflict as something to be avoided at all cost, I now see its gifts and opportunities. Whereas previously I considered justice and punishment to be inseparable, I now see them as almost mutually exclusive.

If the previous paragraph resonates with you, you're going to love the articles on the site today. If it doesn't, we hope you'll at least be curious enough to see what the fuss is about.

In this special issue of OpEdNews, our first such issue, we want to introduce you to the field of restorative justice. To that end, we've recruited writers and gathered articles about different restorative practices all over the world. We've also striven to represent the flexibility and adaptability of restorative practices by including articles on everything from sibling arguments to genocide. We hope you enjoy them and would be glad to hear your feedback.

Authors Website: http://labs.psychology.illinois.edu/~lyubansk/

Authors Bio:

Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D., is a teaching associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches Psychology of Race and Ethnicity and courses on restorative justice.

Since 2009, Mikhail has been studying and working with conflict, particularly via Restorative Circles (a restorative practice developed in Brazil by Dominic Barter and associates) and other restorative responses to conflict. Together with Elaine Shpungin, he now supports schools, organizations, and workplaces in developing restorative strategies for engaging conflict, building conflict facilitation skills and evaluating the outcomes associated with restorative responses via Conflict 180.

In addition to conflict and restorative practices, Mikhail also has a long-standing interest (going back about 20 years) in race and racial dynamics and regularly explores these themes in his Psychology Today blog Between the Lines., as well as in contributions to a variety of anthologies on popular culture, ranging from Harry Potter to vampires to superheroes. In addition to OpEdNews, Mikhail's commentary has also appeared in a many other online publications, including Buzzflash, Jewcy, Colors, Race-Talk, Truthout, Tikkun, Alternet and The Huffington Post, and he has been a guest on a variety of radio programs, including Illinois Public Media and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Mikhail's academic work includes several book chapters and more than a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as racial identity, undocumented immigration, and restorative justice. Mikhail also recently co-edited an academic textbook: Toward a Socially Responsible Psychology for a Global Age and, in 2006, co-authored a book on the Russian-Jewish diaspora: Building a Diaspora: Russian Jews in Israel, Germany, and the United States.

All material on this site published under his byline remains the property of Mikhail Lyubansky, copyright 2008-2016. Permission is granted to repost and distribute, with proper attribution.

Follow Mikhail on Twitter.