Webinar Archive: Ending Mass Incarceration (EMI) Series
6
Exploring Restorative Justice to Address Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence: Center the Wisdom, Needs, & Safety of Survivors
Webinar Date: April 24, 2018
Description
In this webinar, sujatha baliga explores the possibilities of safe, effective, restorative justice alternatives to systems intervention for intimate partner and sexual violence. At its best, restorative justice is a community-based approach to accountability, safety, and healing. Rather than a punishment-oriented approach, restorative justice offers a solutions/healing set of questions in the wake of crime and harm: “Who was harmed? What are their needs? Whose obligation is it to meet those needs?” The need to move towards community-based, survivor-oriented solutions is apparent, as many people stay in relationships or in contact with those who have harmed them, and fifty percent of domestic violence survivors do not report abuse. Restorative justice presents a promising approach to addressing domestic violence by offering principles and practices that centralize survivor-identified needs while deeply engaging community in creating safety and accountability solutions.
About the Presenter
sujatha baliga’s work is characterized by an equal dedication to victims and persons accused of crimes. She speaks publicly and inside prisons about her own experiences as a survivor of child sexual abuse and her path to forgiveness. A former victim advocate and public defender in New York and New Mexico, baliga was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship in 2008 which she used to launch a pre-charge restorative juvenile diversion program in Alameda County, CA. Through the Restorative Justice Project baliga helps communities implement restorative justice alternatives to juvenile detention and zero-tolerance school discipline policies. She is also dedicated to using this approach to end child sexual abuse and intimate partner violence. baliga is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences; she’s been a guest on NPR and The Today Show; and The New York Times Magazine and The Atlantic have profiled her work. She earned her A.B. from Harvard College, her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and has held two federal clerkships. She is currently the Director of the Restorative Justice Project, the Vice President of Impact Justice, and a Just Beginnings Collaborative Fellow.
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Suggested Participants
Anyone interested in learning more about restorative justice, particularly in the context of domestic violence and sexual assault, will benefit from this webinar. This may include community- and system-based advocates, criminal justice professionals, and other practitioners.
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Click here to access recording. The PowerPoint (and any other documents from the webinar) is available by clicking here.
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This project is supported by Grant No. 2016-TA-AX-KO53 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication / program / exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
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