Webinar Archive: Ending Mass Incarceration (EMI) Series
7
Exploring Restorative Justice to Address Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence: Centering the Wisdom, Needs, & Safety of Survivors, Part 2
Webinar Date: July 10, 2018
Description
On April 24, sujatha baliga presented a webinar about the possibilities of safe and effective restorative justice (RJ) alternatives to systems-based interventions for intimate partner and sexual violence. Participants had many important questions. Since we were not able to get to all the questions during the webinar, there was a call for doing a Part 2. This webinar is structured around the questions that participants asked in the first webinar and their evaluations. Questions addressed include: How does a RJ response ensure that survivors are fully informed and really participating voluntarily? What to do about charismatic, manipulative abusers? How are those who have done harm held accountable for what they promise to do? What happens if they do additional harm? What do you do if people involved in the process support or otherwise collude with the person who did harm? Are there different RJ approaches for IPV versus sexual assault? How do you prepare survivors for the process? What is involved in preparing facilitators? How do they know they are fully prepared and able to avoid colluding with those who do harm? What are needed elements, primary concerns, and policy considerations when planning and developing an RJ program? Are there examples of successful RJ processes from different communities/cultures that you can share? This webinar builds on sujatha’s April 24, 2018 webinar. sujatha does not spend time during Part 2 reviewing what she covered in Part 1. If you did not already view Part 1, you can access it from here.
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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