So Why Circles

The following is not so much an article on a restorative justice program as it is a commentary on a way of transformation. What are circles and what can they transform, you ask?

Let me give you some background. First, in March, 2002, the Juvenile Court Judges Commission, through the Center for Juvenile Justice Training and Research, had the vision and courage to bring Kay Pranis (Minnesota Department of Corrections) in for a four-day up-close -and-personal training on peacemaking circles. Twenty-three people were fortunate to be there, including three individuals from my county (Delaware). I found those four days to be life-altering because they taught me a way to open hearts with a dialogue process long employed by First Nation peoples for generations. When we came home we immediately began our own support group, with meetings held around one issue... how do we bring this process to Delaware County? We began looking for ways to conduct peacemaking circles and thinking of how we could train others. Two years later, we have held five peacemaking circle dialogue trainings for probation officers, teachers, mediators and lawyers, and we have each found different ways to employ circles.

Now is a good time to look at what circles are and how they can transform. Think for a second, if you will, of all the people you see on a daily basis in the halls of justice who are in pain. We know crime victims (and their loved ones) are frequently hurting, but offenders (and their loved ones) can be hurting as well. We have also known for some time that folks in the trenches (police, probation officers; corrections officers, etc.) can also be emotional trainwrecks. Now what if I told you it didn't have to be that way? What if! told you there was a dialogue process that would offer people who have suffered harm, a way to release some of the demons they have had to struggle with? Sound impossible? Too good to be true?

Peacemaking circles can be used for any number of applications. I have described situations where healing circles might be employed, but circles can be used for sentencing purposes (community sentencing circles), in the classroom (for academic and conflict resolution purposes), in the workplace (to resolve disputes, to build consensus, or to help employees deal with trauma), and in communities (to allow residents to problem solve, come to consensus and help reintegrate offenders). Circles can be used almost anywhere there is conflict or trauma.What is it about circles that makes them a useful tool for crime victims and others who have been harmed? Circle Keepers are specifically trained to create a safe space for dialogue. The shape of the circle naturally lends itself to that process, but keepers must bring folks into circle through rituals and bonding exercises that help everyone in circle find common ground and slowly open their hearts. A great deal of effort goes into explaining issues of respect and confidentiality and preparing participants to handle issues that arise. Whether or not you are bringing victims and offenders together for direct dialogue, or bringing a group of victims together for healing purposes, the results can literally be transforming.In our consent decree unit, Jacki Bishop employs circles for our victim awareness curriculum. First, no more than 15 offenders are brought together for a healing circle, where they talk about their own victimizations (most of us have them), the resulting emotions and the ways they are still impacted. After a break, they are brought back into circle to discuss their crimes and their victims, and process how their victims must have felt. These circles have had a major impact for many offenders and, as circle keepers, we rejoice in seeing the layers of resistance and denial peel away. This year, as supervisor of our court's victim services unit, I hope to begin offering circle dialogues to many teenage victims of school assaults, many of whom are so traumatized that they are afraid to return to their schools.

Are circles a cure-all or a therapeutic replacement? Not at all, but circle keepers have been astonished at times to see how some victims are able to begin verbalizing their pain in a safe place, with friends who will support them in attendance. In my other career as a graduate professor at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, I facilitate six classes a year, four related to restorative justice, but all facilitated using wisdom circles. I have watched very high ranking members of law enforcement, courts and corrections rediscover their purpose and shed some of the cynicism which masked pain. While I have been trained in a number of dialogue processes, peacemaking circles are closest to my heart.

If you are interested in peacemaking circle training, please email me at haldemand@co.delaware.pa.us.

Saint Joe’s: My Other Home

by: Donald J. Haldeman, MS, JD

The Beginning

I have been an adjunct professor since 1998, when I taught my first graduate level criminal justice class at Saint Joseph’s University, at the Alvernia campus. It was about that time that I became the restorative justice coordinator for Delaware County Juvenile Court (Pa.), and I had no idea how my full time employment and adjunct work were to become inexorably intertwined!

Restorative Justice is a movement that has swept the criminal justice systems in this country since the early 1980’s, but its roots go back to the indigenous peoples of the world. Restorative Justice is a victim centered response to crime that requires us to view criminal acts as harm, and it challenges us to collectively fashion a response to that harm which will utilize input from victims, communities and offenders. For too long, justice has been the business of government, but Restorative Justice looks for partnerships between the parties to harm, in effect, taking back justice from government and returning it to communities. Does Restorative Justice mean doing away with the criminal justice system as we know it? Not at all… The traditional responses to crime will need to remain, as well as prisons, but with many instances of harm, responses involving victims and communities may yield far more positive, less costly results.

As a specialist in this new movement, I approached the director of the graduate criminal justice program, Larry Walsh, and requested to design and implement a new course in restorative justice. After being given the green light, a course was listed for the Fall of 2002. Generally, the first offering in Restorative Justice was a smash success, but it was taught in a traditional method utilizing lecture and discussion, and it was about to evolve!

As a Restorative Justice specialist, I had sought out training in all sorts of dialogue processes including several different forms of mediation as well as restorative conferencing, which was dialogue facilitated while participants sat in circle. In the Spring, 2002, I spent four days with a remarkable woman from Minnesota, Kay Pranis, being trained in peacemaking circle, an indigenous rooted dialogue process. Those four days spent with Kay and twenty-two others resulted in a personal and professional transformation for this writer, and two friends who were also there. We immediately began planning to do circle trainings for other people from Delaware County; probation officers, teachers, guidance counselors, lawyers, mediators.

After my first successful attempt with a Restorative Justice course, I was given permission to split the course into two, Restorative Justice Theory and Restorative justice Practices. In terms of my evolution as a teacher, I decided to facilitate all my classes in circle dialogue process, using a combination of healing circles, wisdom circles, and peacemaking circle. Immediately, I noticed enormous changes, most important being that students now shared responsibility for learning…we had become a learning community. As a professor, I was able to concentrate less on preparing lectures and spend my time as a facilitator for these students who had brought a world of resources into the classroom with them. Students were responsible for sharing their learning with one another, and I was there to that the rules for dialogue were adhered to. Circle dialogue demands confidentiality and respect. My students learned quickly that respectful disagreement was always encouraged, but disrespect was not.

The Process

So what happens in a class facilitated in circle? All of my six course offerings are facilitated in the same way. The first 15-20 minutes are spent doing a check in, where a talking piece (almost anything will do) is passed around. When a student receives the talking piece, they can share anything they want to with circle. It can be something good or bad that is happening, or perhaps they need problem solving help. A rule of circle is that you can pass the talking piece if you wish to say nothing. Once students find their voice in circle, they become less likely to pass without offering a statement.

Many of my graduate students are well established in criminal justice professions, and many deal with enormous stress in a given day. A check in can help students to slow down, to enter a more serene and reflective state where learning is more easily achieved. A major rule of circle is that any deep dialogue will be completed before moving on to the other sections of class. I have had criminal justice professionals experience job trauma, and if they need to talk, we will listen. Students in my courses know that their well being is the first priority in class. With respectful dialogue done in circle process, students begin to feel safe, and also responsible for one another’s safety. Check in is critical in setting the stage for what follows.

When check in is completed, we move on to wisdom circle. The students are assigned material for the semester, almost always with a partner. When it is their night to present, they become circle dialogue facilitators and are charged with leading dialogue on the material we have all read. They need to come up with a series of insightful questions, questions designed to be thought provoking. They ask their question (s) and using a talking piece, the circle participants respond. During this part of the evening, there is an enormous amount of learning going on, as many participants have unique perspectives and specialized knowledge. Collectively, my students possess more expertise than I do as an individual. Wisdom Circle is utilized for that knowledge to be disseminated.