RIT Hosts Leading Advocate for Restorative Justice

Howard Zehr, professor of sociology and restorative justice at Eastern Mennonite University and one of the founders of the restorative justice movement, will present a lecture at Rochester Institute of Technology entitled “Journey to Belonging.”

The program will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, and is part of a series of discussions on the topic that Zehr is conducting across the country. Zehr’s address confronts issues of how both victims and offenders often engage in parallel journeys in their attempts to make sense of their lives after a crime/victimization event.

Restorative justice represents a voluntary, community-based response to criminal behavior that attempts to bring together the victim, the offender and the community in an effort to address the harm caused by crime. Emphasis is placed on assisting the victim and community in recovering from the effects of crime as opposed to focusing exclusively on the punishment of the offender.

Zehr is an award-winning writer and photojournalist, as well as an international expert in criminal justice policy. He is the author of numerous books, including Changing Lessons: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, a standard in the field of restorative justice.

For more information about the presentation please contact RIT’s department of criminal justice at 475-2432.

What: Journey to Belonging
Who: Professor Howard Zehr
When: 2-4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22
Where: Rochester Institute of Technology
Ingle Auditorium, Student Alumni Union