The Center for Public Interest Law concluded the yearlong Public Interest Legal Skills Series with a three session restorative justice series. Adjunct Professors Elizabeth Vastine and Peter Newman taught the series this April during the lunch hour. Vastine and Newman held each session in a restoratve justice circle, to help students gain a basic understanding of the practice, as well as how it is implemented in Cook County Juvenile Justice system.
Student participants praised the opportunity to collaborate with one another and learn more about this increasingly popular method of alternative dispute resolution, which is fast becoming a critical practice in juvenile justice system. "I was so grateful to have the chance to gain restorative justice skills," said Cindy Bedrosian ('14). "We learned about restorative justice by actually participating in a restorative justice circle each week. It was wonderful to have this opportunity to learn about an innovative practice by experiencing it, instead of merely attending a lecture."