Restorative Justice Workshops for Youth
CCSJ hopes to strengthen practices to address harm that can facilitate healing, community-building, cross-racial solidarity, and other positive outcomes. To achieve these outcomes, CPA developed a restorative justice training for Asian American high school students. The training aimed to help participants build healthy practices around addressing conflict, better understand their own responses to conflict, including in interracial or intergenerational conflicts, and be able to analyze current events through a restorative justice lens. The training is an early step in a longer-term journey to cultivating a community of care and safety that responds to harm with healing and longer-lasting solutions.
The restorative justice training had positive outcomes for the youth participants and beyond. Participants said they were very satisfied with how restorative justice skills aided them in their personal relationships. The training also had ripple effects in the community. Participants reported teaching restorative justice skills to people within their social circles and using their skills to navigate conflicts outside of their closest circles, including with people from different racial backgrounds. At the system level, participants internalized the need to understand the larger context and the importance of community-building to address harm. Some participants reported greater optimism in resolving intergenerational or cross-racial conflicts through listening and building mutual understanding. They also expressed a belief in the shortcomings of carceral and punitive approaches to address harm.
Main Program Components
Multi-week training
The training consisted of four in-person, half-day sessions conducted in English. The sessions included food and paid an attendance stipend.
Recruitment through multiple channels
Each cohort had about twenty high school students from schools across San Francisco, recruited mainly from Chinese and Asian American networks. Many participants were referred to the training by CPA and CYC, but some heard about the program through informal community and parent networks.
Youth leadership
Although the program was created and managed by adults, it prioritized youth-led discussions. One strategy for encouraging youth leadership was asking a few youth who had participated in a previous cohort to return and model youth leadership. Seeing youth take risks in leading discussions or sharing opinions inspired others to do the same.
Group and individual homework exercises
Every week, participants were asked to complete either a group or individual homework assignment, or both. The activities included reflecting on assigned readings, writing about public safety solutions they think are promising, and practicing apologizing to someone in their life.
Guest speakers
The sessions incorporated special guests to expose attendees to new viewpoints. Guest speakers included a formerly incarcerated activist, a leader at a Black and Brown-led advocacy organization, and Chinese immigrant parents who previously participated in a restorative justice training.
Education on racism and the criminal legal system
The training series included specific modules on racism and on the harms of the criminal legal system. In one module, a guest speaker talked about the injustice of the school-to-prison pipeline and how a restorative approach would be more effective in addressing harm. In another module, participants read articles about Black-Asian conflict and solidarity to prepare them for in-session discussions.
Keys to Success
Emphasis on experiential learning
Participants were highly engaged in the interpersonal skill-building component because they could tangibly feel the benefits in their personal lives. This created buy-in for the training overall, kept them engaged in the systems-level discussions, and also served as a proof of concept for restorative justice practices. Participants had undeniable first-hand successes with compassion, forgiveness, and overcoming difficult interpersonal situations. These experiences broadened participants’ visions for what was possible in our currently punitive society.
Community-building activities
The training was intentional about building community among participants. The workshops included group activities and circles, which helped youth feel included rather than acting as passive spectators. The circles, a staple of restorative justice practice, allowed each individual to share their honest thoughts, avoiding the dynamic of only hearing the thoughts of people who tend to volunteer. One participant said that the inclusive activities gave the training space a home-like feeling and allowed for deepness and vulnerability. Additionally, prior to the workshop start times, card and board games were brought out, so that participants could engage in low-stakes and positive interactions before a session. As a result, youth organically created a group chat to stay connected outside of sessions. All of these community-building efforts helped students connect across school and organizational affiliations.
First-hand accounts and guest speakers
Participants cited guest speakers and intergenerational discussions as some of the most memorable moments in the training. Several youth said the presentations would not have been as effective as videos because they appreciated having genuine conversations and meeting with people who had firsthand experience or had witnessed the school-to-prison pipeline. Other youth talked about how hearing in-person from a formerly incarcerated person was powerful. Even witnessing the lead facilitator’s welcoming interactions toward the formerly incarcerated guest speaker made a youth rethink their stereotypes about who could be friends. Overall, youth felt the training gave them more empathy for formerly incarcerated people and why crime might happen. Finally, intergenerational discussions gave youth hope in the ability for people to change because they saw parents, who they viewed as practically unchangeable, talk about learning restorative justice. One youth said, “I took away the fact that everyone is able to change and grow in a safe and supportive environment because at the last session we had a bunch of adults come and we were able to talk to them…One woman said that she really wanted to stop fighting with her daughter. That really, really touched me. Like everyone is able to change and learn and grow no matter how old you are.”
Resources
Restorative Justice Workshop Presentations by SEEDS and CPA
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