Dominic Barter has studied the interface between societal and personal change, and the role of conflict, since the 1980s. Since 2004 he has worked as consultant and training program director for the Brazilian Restorative Justice pilot projects, in collaboration with the UN Development Program, UNESCO, the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education and Special Secretariat for Human Rights. He has focused on developing effective models and training programs for practitioners to address youth crime and its consequences, as well as working with judges, school administrators, police, social services as well as youth and community leaders in supervising implementation. Dominic coordinates the Restorative Justice Project for the international Center for Nonviolent Communication.

www.restorativecircles.org
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A Restorative Circle is a community process for supporting those in conflict.

As developed in the favelas of Brazil in the mid 1990s, where it later became known as Círculos Restaurativos, it brings together the three parties to a conflict - those who have acted, those directly impacted and the wider community - within a chosen systemic context, to dialogue as equals. Participants invite each other and attend voluntarily. The dialogue process used is shared openly with all participants. The process ends when actions have been found that bring mutual benefit that nurtures the inherent integrity of all those involved in the conflict.

Círculos Restaurativos are facilitated in 3 stages that arise in an approximate sequence and identity the key factors in the conflict, reach agreements on next steps, and evaluate the results. As a circle form, they invite shared power, mutual understanding and self-responsibility within community.

Círculos Restaurativos are facilitated by community members who identify themselves as impacted by the conflict at hand. They commit to serving the emergent wisdom of the participants through their willingness to offer questions sourced from an agreed upon basis and to track the co-creation of meaning and intra-personal, inter-personal and social action by those present.

Restorative Systems Videos: http://www.restorativecircles.org/systems-and-facilitation

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