The schools have provided a much smaller setting in which to work at a deliberate interaction between theory and practice. What has emerged are some principles and practices that work together to reduce violence and increase community. What I plan to do for the next several newsletters is to lay out the Restorative Justice Principles. It appears that if we designed our systems for responding to misbehavior based on these principles, violence would be reduced and overall safety and cooperation would be increased. I would appreciate your comments.
Laws are important.
They provide a context and guide. However, it would not be possible to write enough laws to cover all of the ways that one might violate another person or their relationship. The laws that have been written cover the violations that a majority of the people or legislators have decided are serious enough to have in a form which allows the state to take an action in regard to the one who violates the law. But again, our real concern is not the law, it is the violation of human relationships that caused the law to be written in the first place. When we place the emphasis on the violation of law instead of the violation of the human relationship, we hide or mask the real violation.