Institutional transformation to nurture restorative justice practitioners: a cross-sector exploration of a regional community practice in Southern California

Restorative justice offers an interdisciplinary framework to create communities that nurture the emotional well-being of all. In recent decades, there has been a proliferation of research into the theoretical applications and concrete implementation of both restorative justice and practices across multiple professional sectors in a siloed nature. However, there is still room to study restorative practices implementation across sectors as a social movement. This study documented the experiences and shared challenges of restorative justice practitioners across the southern California region representing multiple sectors including higher education, K-12 (primary and secondary) education, and community-based organizations. This research was guided by the Empowerment Evaluation methodology to engage in restorative circle practice in combination with key tenets of empowerment. Fifteen practitioners engaged in four circles to discuss the state of restorative justice implementation at their respective institutions. Circle topics included (a) community-building, (b) mission development, (c) taking stock, and (d) determining next steps. The findings highlight the importance of institutional context to the well-being and sustainability of restorative justice practitioners. This work requires the practitioner to embrace a restorative state-of-being that demands they engage in constant states of tension, negotiations of self, and unlearning previous ways-of-being. Within the often fixed nature of educational and criminal institutions, the restorative state-of-being is often an unsustainable practice for practitioners with great negative impact on restorative justice as a social movement.