Agenda
day one
From Snowball to Avalanche: The state of restorative justice in Alaska
Symposium organizers, Dr. Ingrid Johnson of the UAA Justice Center and Dr. Rei Shimizu of the UAA School of Social Work, will welcome all participants to this year's event, provide an overview of understandings and definitions of restorative justice, detail recent happenings in the state that show promise for the expansion of restorative justice, and briefly review the upcoming sessions.
Lunch and learn: Leveraging Alaska’s criminal-legal process to use restorative justice
On September 7th, 2023, four presiding judges in Alaska signed a statewide order, “Statewide Restorative Justice Procedures in Criminal Proceedings,” detailing the steps communities and programs should follow to use restorative justice to address criminal offenses. For this session, UAF Justice Professor Jeff May and Alaska Superior Court Judge Paul Roetman will provide a step-by-step overview of the order and what it looks like in practice.
Building buy-in: How to talk about restorative justice
Engaging with all community stakeholders is important to implement restorative processes and/or programs in communities successfully. This includes stakeholders who may not be bought into restorative justice. The panelists, including members of the Oregon Restorative Justice Council (Tristen Edwards, Debra Pennington Davis, and Matt Ellis) and a former Alaskan legislator (Geran Tarr), will discuss their experience and lessons learned from talking to state-level stakeholders and community members about restorative justice to address harm. They will also discuss how to disseminate information about restorative justice for general public consumption, particularly for audience members who have preconceived notions about restorative justice as “soft on crime.”
Locking in your linchpins: How to recruit, train, and retain restorative justice facilitators
Facilitators are critical to a successful restorative justice program. Alaskan restorative justice facilitators and trainers Mike Jackson (the Kake Circle Peacemaking Program), Curt Shuey (Circle Alaska Consulting), and Kimberly Martus (RurAL CAP) will detail what to consider when recruiting and hiring facilitators, the training options available in and outside the state, and how to retain these individuals for a thriving program for years to come.
day two
Lessons from the Alaskan restorative justice field
Program coordinators and facilitators from existing restorative justice programs around the state will share about how their programs started, what types of cases they take, what restorative processes they use, how they do or do not interact with formal court processes, and lessons learned on success and failure. Learn about the Kake Circle Peacemaking Program (Mike Jackson), the Fairbanks Community Restorative Justice Initiative (Jeff May), the Nenana Peacemaking Circle (Kat McElroy), the Kenaitze Ts’iłq’u Circle (Martina Georges), and other restorative justice processes (Polly Hyslop)!
12:00 AM - 1:15 PM (AK)
Lunch networking social
Spend your lunch hour meeting up with other folks around the state interested in restorative justice!
Healing, voice, and accountability through restorative justice: A crime victim’s perspective
In 2015, Terria Vandehuerk’s son was robbed and murdered in Big Lake, Alaska. After the man who killed her son was incarcerated, she was given the opportunity to sit down with him to tell him she forgave him. This dialogue was filmed for a national TV series called the Redemption Project and aired in 2019. For this session, we will watch Terria’s episode, “A Mother’s Justice” (42 minutes) and then engage in a live dialogue with Terria about restorative justice and her hopes for the movement as it progresses in Alaska.
Restorative justice, peacemaking, and transformative justice
Philosophies that shift understandings of justice away from offender-centered punishment are often similar, but maintain distinct qualities. This panel, featuring Christy Chapman and Kim Martus, and Megan Edge, will explore the differences between restorative justice, peacemaking, and transformative justice and how it all fits together.
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM (AK)
Closing remarks and next steps
Symposium organizers, Drs. Ingrid Johnson and Rei Shimizu will close out the symposium with a brief reflection on next steps for continuing to move restorative justice forward in Alaska.