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Restorative Justice: A New Paradigm for Social Transformation with Azim Khamisa

Hailed by dignitaries such as the Dalai Lama and Tariq Khamisa, Azim's murdered son and for whom the TKF Foundation was formed in honor of.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Azim Khamisa delivers his inspirational message to a world in desperate need of forgiveness, peace and hope.

Following the murder of his only son Tariq in 1995 through a senseless, gang-related incident, Azim chose the path of forgiveness and compassion rather than revenge, and this amazing choice led to the establishment of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation (TKF) and his subsequent forgiveness work which has reached millions through international speaking, (in 1996 - a crowd of 300,000), public and corporate workshops, video and audio recordings and four published books, including the award winning From Murder to Forgiveness and the Random House book The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit coauthored with Jillian Quinn.

Azim is going to share with us the historical perspective of Restorative Justice and offer a clear understanding of what it is. Given there are many views and opinions of what this hugely growing field entails, and how it works, we are delighted to speak with not only someone who has lived the processes first hand but who can truly help clarify the things that commonly cause people to question the efficacy of Restorative Justice, and to show how common concerns of accountability, safety, and respect for victims still plays a huge role in guiding the processes.

Related Links:

Ending the Cycle of Violence

The ACCLAIMED 6 part video series and curriculum ENDING THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE: From Murder to Forgiveness introduces Azim and Ples's teachings on Restorative Justice and Forgiveness to youth ages 11-15. To learn how to bring these much needed violence prevention resources to your schools and communities, go to: http://chariotvideos.com/educationalfilms/ending-the-cycle-of-violence/

Matthew is the Restorative Justice Coordinator at the Clackamas County Juvenile Department and Chair for the NW Justice Forum Planning Committee

Matthew Hartman (MA) has extensive experience in organizational development, particularly related to the work of aligning a groups practices with their stated values and purpose. Working across the US and internationally, Matthew has offered facilitation, consultation and training in restorative justice, conflict transformation, and mediation to non-profit, public and corporate sectors.

Currently, Matthew is the Restorative Justice Coordinator of the Clackamas County Juvenile Department where he is providing in-house consultancy toward aligning the department's practices with restorative justice values and principles. Related projects include strategic planning, website enhancement, the development of the Victim Impact Program, and coordination of a Victim-Offender Dialogue Program. In addition, Matthew is also expanding and strengthening the capacity of Clackamas County communities to engage as a meaningful participants in responding to juvenile crime. Matthew is the Chair of the NW Justice Forum Planning Committee and a Steering Committee member for the Restorative Justice Coalition of Oregon.

Matthew has an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a Masters degree in Conflict Transformation. Additional areas of expertise include trauma healing; qualitative evaluation; conflict analysis and theory; and strategic peacebuilding. Matthew's natural style and ability to put individuals and groups at ease assists all parties in achieving their goals through listening, transformative dialogue and creative problem solving.

Website link for more information about CCJD and its programs or visit: http://www.clackamas.us/juvenile. Also visit the NW Justice Forum Website at www.nwjusticeforum.com

Restorative Justice on The RiseSebastian Junger and Which Way Is The Front Line From Here: The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington
Director of Which Way Is The Front Line From Here: The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington | Co-Director of Oscar-nominated Documentary Restrepo | Author of The Perfect Storm

Sebastian Junger is internationally known for his book The Perfect Storm as well as War, his account of the year he spent with Tim Hetherington at Outpost Restrepo in Afghanistan, for which Hetherington and he also co-directed Restrepo, a powerful documentary that received wide acclaim and an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. Tim Hetherington was tragically killed in Misrata, Libya while covering the uprisings of the Arab Spring and the rebellion against Khadafy and his troops.

We are honored to host Sebastian Junger for this special edition of Restorative Justice on The Rise, to discuss the film and the significance of Tim Hetherington's work and life, and role as a humanitarian and image-maker who brought great light and truths to our common humanity through his work and selfless service.

Fred Van Liew, a lawyer, mediator, consultant, trainer, lobbyist, community organizer, and novice blogger, is the Director for the Center for Restorative Justice Practices in Des Moines, Iowa.

For most of his twenty-eight years as a practicing attorney he worked as a prosecutor "inside the system."

He learned much during those years but looking back says what he took away from the experience is that we can do much better when it comes to how we respond to crime and those who commit them.

Fred retired as a prosecutor in 2010 and worked for awhile applying Restorative Justice principles to workplace conflicts. He takes part-time classes in Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite University and says he is fortunate to have Howard Zehr as his mentor.

He is in the early stages of writing a book exploring the experiences ordinary people have had with the justice system, traveling every month to a different part of the country to discover what justice looks like for the average person and those who have been caught up in the system.

For More Information visit:- www.thejusticediary.com

Dr. Mark Umbreit is a Professor and founding Director of the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota, School of Social Work.
He serves as a Visiting Professor at the Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee. Dr. Umbreit has also served as a Fellow of the International Centre for Healing and the Law, and a Fellow of the Center for Contemplative Practice in Society. He is an internationally recognized practitioner and scholar with more than 40 years of experience as a mediator, peacemaker, trainer, teacher, researcher, and author of eight books and more than 200 other publications in the fields of restorative justice, mediation, spirituality, forgiveness, and peacemaking. Dr. Umbreit has conducted training seminars and lectures throughout the world, in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Mideast, and North and South America. Mark has been a consultant and trainer for the U.S. Department of Justice for the past 30 years. Dr. Umbreit also serves on the faculty of the Center for Spirituality & Healing in the Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota, teaching courses on Peacemaking & Spirituality, and Forgiveness & Healing.

As a practitioner, he facilitates peace-building circles in the community between members of diverse cultures and restorative dialogues between family survivors of homicide and the offender in their quest for healing and strength. Mark initiated the first Palestinian-Jewish dialogue group in the Minneapolis/St. Paul community, as well as a Muslim Restorative Justice Engagement Project in the Twin Cities and beyond. He is working with colleagues in Northern Ireland, Italy, Liberia, and Israel/Palestine on peace building initiatives. He has helped establish restorative justice programs in hundreds of communities, including in nearly every state of the U.S. and numerous other countries. Dr. Umbreit's multi-site and multi-national research has contributed significantly to restorative justice policy development in the U.S. and other countries, as well as providing resource materials and guidance to practitioners. Mark is currently working as a Senior International Consultant with the United Nations Development Program and the Ministry of Justice in Turkey to support their legislative efforts to implement victim offender mediation throughout the country.

When it was first introduced, the restorative justice movement was met with widespread resistance and skepticism. Now, more than twenty-five years later, the movement has flourished and continues to make great strides in reforming the traditional justice system. Today the restorative justice movement is endorsed by many former skeptics.

-Excerpt from the Introduction to The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation by Dr. Mark Umbreit

Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz is the co-director of the Office on Crime and Justice for Mennonite Central Committee.

She serves as consultant and trainer for restorative justice programs having a victim offender mediation component.

She has worked in the field of victim offender mediation since 1984. She is faculty during the Summer Peacebuilding Institute's internationally-attended courses annually.

She has co-authored a curriculum entitled "Victim Offender Conferencing in Pennsylvania's Juvenile Justice System", The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools, and is the author of The Little Book of Victim Offender Conferencing.

She also co-authored with Howard Zehr, pictured above together and with their book What Will Happen To Me which is a portrait of children who have at least one parent incarcerated.

She received her BS in social work from Eastern Mennonite University, where in 2002 she was awarded the Distinguished Service Award. She holds a master of social work from Marywood University.

Alan Huffman is the author of Here I Am , a biography of humanitarian, artist, war photographer, and world citizen as well as Co-Director of the Oscar-nominated
Restrepo (with author and journalist Sebastian Junger), Tim Hetherington.

Huffman's powerful recounting of Hetherington's profound life and tragic death is the topic of this evening's special edition of Restorative Justice on The Rise and we'll explore this extraordinary man's philosophies, the book's journey,

Huffman's insights and unpack some of the difficult questions about our world amidst seemingly endless war and multiple and distinctly coinciding cultural realities. It is an honor to host Mr. Huffman and we have webcast space for those wishing to join in via the worldwide web.

Kathy Kelly co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, (www.vcnv.org) a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare.

During each of nine recent trips to Afghanistan, Kathy Kelly, as an invited guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, has lived alongside ordinary Afghan people in a working class neighborhood in Kabul. She and her companions in Voices for Creative Nonviolence believe that "where you stand determines what you see."

They are resolved not to let war sever the bonds of friendship between them and Afghan people whom they've grown to know through successive delegations. Kelly and her companions insist that the U.S. is not waging a "humanitarian war" in Afghanistan.

Kelly has also joined with activists in various regions of the country to protest drone warfare by holding demonstrations outside of U.S. military bases in Nevada, upstate New York, and, most recently, at Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri.

From 1996 - 2003, Voices activists formed 70 delegations that openly defied economic sanctions by bringing medicines to children and families in Iraq. Kathy and her companions lived in Baghdad throughout the 2003 "Shock and Awe" bombing. They have also lived alongside people during warfare in Gaza, Lebanon, Bosnia and Nicaragua.

She was sentenced to one year in federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites (1988-89) and spent three months in prison, in 2004, for crossing the line at

Fort Benning's military training school. As a war tax refuser, she has refused payment of all forms of federal income tax since 1980.
For more information visit: http://vcnv.org/speaker-bio/kathy-kelly

Author of Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of Prison, Redemption and One Woman's Fight to Restore Justice to All and founder of RSVP (Resolve to Stop the Violence Project)

A nationally recognized expert in criminal justice reform with 30 years of frontline experience as a lawyer, advocate and consultant, Sunny Schwartz has spent her career navigating all levels of the system and pioneering new policy initiatives for prisoner's programs, as well as alternatives to incarceration. She is the author of Dreams from the Monster Factory, Hard cover Published 2009, Paperback version published 2010, which gives a comprehensive insider's perspective on America's failing prison system and recounts her own real-world implementation of a targeted strategy that both saves taxpayers' money and dramatically reduces recidivism.

Sunny directs the design and operation of prisoner programs in six county jails. During her tenure, she has made significant changes to traditional incarceration operations, transitioning from an ineffectual system rooted in idling and "downtime" to one that requires inmates to participate in educational, vocational and therapeutic programs 10 hours a day, five days a week. The specific goals of these programs are to facilitate successful reentry into society in a way that addresses the gaps and shortcomings of the old system (and to decrease further victimization on individuals and our community as a whole.)

Sunny also designed and established the Resolve To Stop the Violence Project (RSVP). A nationally renowned, award-winning restorative justice program, RSVP unites diverse community organizations and individuals to collaborate on the first-in-the nation correctional program offering services to everyone harmed by violence: victims, offenders, and communities, alike. As part of the program, Schwartz chartered a citywide Survivor Restoration Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from local government agencies, non-profit organizations and the interfaith community. Her efforts to reform the criminal justice system and minimize crime through RSVP have been featured on national television, with appearances on the Discovery Channel, PBS, Larry King Live and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her program is currently being examined for replication in various cities throughout the United States, as well as in New Zealand, Poland and Singapore. In July of 2004, RSVP was the recipient of the prestigious "Oscar's in Government" Innovations in Government Award, sponsored by the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University and the Ash Institute.

Diane Pendola has been a contemplative presence in county jails and prisons since 1986 when she completed her Masters degree in theology. She was deeply influenced by feminist and liberation theologies, with their emphasis on giving voice to the voiceless and bringing the disenfranchised in from the margins to the very center of authentic spiritual life. She also had the great good fortune of being the student of the pre-eminent inter-cultural philosopher, Raimon Panikkar. Through Panikkar she became grounded in a deep respect for dialogue as an open and engaged listening to the perceived "other" as a path to spiritual growth and conversion, not of the other, but of oneself.

Currently, Diane is the Director and Co-founder of Skyline Harvest. Skyline's projects include retreats and workshops at their Eco-contemplative Center, and out-reach through The Lioness Tale Prison Project, called LiT-uPP From the Inside Out. LiT-uPP awakens the inner freedom of women serving long term prison sentences, giving purpose to their lives, and lighting up the prison where they live from the inside out.

This spring Skyline is launching The Compassionate Leaders Program, designed to prepare leaders from across the planet to carry the in-prison program into their countries' jails, prisons and juvenile facilities.

Diane knows all things are possible through the Love that resides at the center of our expanding universe and at the center of our human hearts.

www.econcontemplative.org

www.thelionesstale.com

skyline@gotsky.com

Restorative Justice on the Rise

Media That Matters: Public Dialogue On Justice

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