Why Restorative Justice?

When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to work with other adults and youth in my community to start a youth organization. One day I got a postcard in the mail, advertising free pizza and the chance to talk about what changes I would like to see in my community for young people. I went to the meeting and ended up volunteering to be a youth member of the Board of Directors. During that first year, I attended monthly meetings and took the time to make sure the youth perspective was included in all of the preliminary planning and development of the organization.

In my second year on the board, as a senior in high school, I was nominated by the adult members to be the Vice President. At the time, I didn't want to accept the nomination. What could I, as a high schooler, possibly know about being the Vice President on a board? After some convincing from the adults that believed in me, I accepted the nomination and spent the next year in an unexpected leadership role.

That experience was one of the most significant in my life, because it sent me on the path toward youth development. I found a passion in the work I was doing and wanted to open other youth organizations and help other kids. The piece that I didn't think much about, at the time, was how significant an opportunity it was to sit at a table with adults as an equal. I was able to raise questions, concerns or ideas as anyone else could, and know that my perspective was valued by others.

It wasn't until I began my minor in Youth Studies at the University of Minnesota, that I was able to truly appreciate the gift I had been given. I was able to reflect about my own significance as a young person in my community and recognize the important role adults had played in supporting that discovery. I decided that I wanted to be one of those adults.

I initially learned a lot about youth empowerment as it relates to civic engagement. One of my professors told me about the "Ladder of Participation".

Learning about the Ladder of Participation gave me a perspective of how to work with young people in an authentic way when it comes to decision making. Although I really like this theoretical perspective and it has been influential in how I think about youth work, it has not been something that I have utilized in my current work. Hart's ladder is a powerful way to think about organizational development and strategy, which means that it it is most effective when implemented by leaders in the organization. It is something that must be embraced from above in order to be truly effective. I have great aspirations to be one of those leaders and will someday implement the Ladder of Participation when developing my own organizational strategies.

What I like about restorative justice is that it doesn't require leadership from the top in order to be effective. It can be utilized by frontline youth workers in a variety of different situations to develop a sense of equality and belonging. All participants are considered equal, regardless of age, gender, education level or socio-economic status, which creates a authentic space for "youth initiated, shared decisions with adults" (rung 8) to exist. Even if an organization does not have the cultural inclination or structure to give young people the opportunity for decision making, youth workers can still look to restorative measures as a means of creating a space where all voices are heard, responded to and respected.