The Restorative Justice Circle (RJ) is a student-led club on the University of Wyoming Campus. The RJ students are looking to expand and spread the word about restorative justice in the community.
Recently, RJ members Kai Yeger and Natalie Poole hosted a presentation to talk about what restorative justice is and who RJ is on campus, including the ways they are trying to reshape it in the community.
“It’s really exciting. We would love to expand, and are working currently to fully implement restorative practices in the pathways from prison program,” said Kai Yeger, a leading member of the RJ circle.
Restorative justice is a method of discipline following a crime. Its purpose, as Yeger says, is to promote a sense of unity.
“Victims, offenders and community members coming together . . . There’s a big emphasis on the act of accountability and consent for all this process on shared values and community relations. And throughout all of that, instead of the offenders getting what they deserve, it’s offender taking responsibility for repairing harms that are addressed by restorative justice practices”
According to Poole, the United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Additionally, the U.S. incarceration rate is disproportionate to its violence rate, and therefore one of the main questions asked in RJ is whether the said offenders are that dangerous.
With that in mind, RJ is trying to become more proactive in the community. The group describes how they plan to provide opportunities. In Pooles section of the presentation she says:
“We’re an alternative to continuing the disproportionate rates of marginalized individuals within the prison system. We run increased access to the resources with community partnerships and justices…access to diversion programs specifically designed to reduce reoffending.”
UW also has a program for people who have already been incarcerated. This program is called “Pathways” and is specifically to help former incarcerates to get reintegrated into the community as they start or restart their education.
That is just one example of restorative justice in Wyoming. RJ is also doing outreach by creating workshops for restorative justice specifically, as well as community building activities like book clubs or outings to the local plant shop, and educational presentations like this one.
Yeger also informs that anyone can be a part of RJ, being a law or criminal justice student is not required. Yeger is a molecular biology major and Poole is achieving a PhD in psychology. Yeger goes on to say that their connection to the club was something they saw as a need in their community.
“Justice came to me through my student organizations work, where I was first introduced as a Officer of queer community coalition and I saw a need within my community that could be met by restorative justice” Yeger says, and “being involved in restorative justice is a means to me that I’m able to give back to the community as a whole.”
RJ is a part of the growing community at UW, offering members of every side of the community an opportunity to either come and learn about restorative justice or participate in their various training workshops listed on their website and get involved in their club.
