NECR Webinar: Restorative Practices
The U.S. Correctional System’s raison d’etre is to correct or rehabilitate individuals, but it serves instead to protect society against crime and exact punishment on wrongdoers, expecting them to refrain from future wrongdoing regardless of the underlying reasons for the initial engagement in criminal activity. The retribution within this system belongs to a penal philosophy that is archaic and discredited by penologists. This outdated logic assumes that man is a rational, pleasure-seeking creature who can be prevented from engaging in antisocial and illegal behavior simply because of the prospect that the pain of punishment will outweigh the benefits gained from the commission of the crime. This assumption may be misplaced, if recidivism rates and prison populations are any indication.
Enter Restorative Justice, an approach that addresses the root cause for long term/permanent results as opposed to addressing the symptoms, the current approach which is manifesting short term/temporary results. In this webinar, NECR Instructor Dr. Dianne Williams will discuss her work as a Restorative Justice practitioner as well as her recently published paper, “A Discursive Public Health Approach to Wrongdoing and the Wrongdoer.”
For questions, please contact Kjerstin Pugh (kep2137 [[at]] columbia [[dot]] edu)
For additional information about program offerings at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, please contact an Admissions Counselor at 212-854-9666 or inquire [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu.
