What I'm reading

I just finished reading Howard Zehr's classic The Little Book of Restorative Justice.  Don't give me too much credit - it's only 71 pages and that includes the endnotes!  Although it's short, it says much in few words.  Zehr concludes that retributive justice and restorative justice are not necessarily opposites but they ask different questions.  These are "the questions that drive our current justice systems: What laws have been broken?  Who did it? What do they deserve?"


True justice requires, instead, that we ask questions such as these: Who has been hurt?  What do they need?  Whose obligations and responsibilities are these?  Who has a stake in this situation?  What is the process that can involve the stakeholders in finding a solution?  Restorative justice requires us to change not just our lenses but our questions."  (Zehr, p.63)


I appreciated Zehr's brief comment in passing about the death penalty.  "Many acts and efforts are being labeled 'restorative,' but in fact they are not.  Some of these might be rescued.  Others cannot.  The death penalty, which causes additional and irreparable harm, is one of the latter."  (Zehr, 57)  I agree.


I liked the book so much that we purchased copies for everyone who was at the restorative justice workshop and every member of the New Life launch team.  I hope all of them appreciate this informative read about a new and better way to do justice.  I also recommend the book to you ...


Pastor Rick
April 25, 2012