The Florida Restorative Justice Association held its inaugural statewide conference on September 28th and 29th on the campus of USF-Sarasota. This endeavor was largely funded through a generous mini-grant from NACRJ. The 108 attendees included significant numbers of educators and students, law enforcement and judicial system folks, public administrators at state and local levels, community resource providers (in mediation, trauma informed care, etc) and racial/social justice organizers – from many parts of Florida.

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The NACRJ Law and Policy Working Group is recruiting a team of legislators and advocates to participate in a national conference call to discuss strategic issues and moving forward with legislative advisement and advocacy. Contact Dr. Sandra Pavelka at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested in participating in this important dialogue.

NACRJ is also showcasing good examples of Restorative Justice Legislation in three key areas: Juvenile Justice, Adult/Criminal Justice, and Educational Settings/Schools.^[i]

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Mapping US Peacemakers

In an effort to understand our collective power as peacemakers the United States, Communities in Transition (CIT) and PeaceTech Lab are mapping the location of conflict transformation practitioners, mediators, dialogue facilitators, circle holders, religious peacemakers, non-violent communication, interest-based negotiators, restorative justice practitioners and other practitioners and peacemaking organizations residing in the U.S. If you, or your organization, work in the United States to guide processes that bring people together to resolve any matter through dialogue, please consider adding your information to the online map.

On the 30th anniversary of the production of Dennis Maloney’s seminal work, “The Balanced Approach,” the Juvenile and Family Court Journal has now issued a set of articles this spring that revisit the beginnings and spread of what has largely been known, over the years, as BARJ.

Included in this journey is a recent article by co-authors Sandra Pavelka and Douglas Thomas, “Evolution of Balanced and Restorative Justice," which creatively takes the reader through the hypothetical experiences of youth offender Joey who navigates a complex justice system that may or may not include a balanced approach.

Maloney (for whom one the NACRJ award categories is named after), along with other colleagues, came up with the balanced triad of accountability for victims, competencies of offenders, and protection for communities, as a way to encapsulate the thrust of restorative justice as it was unfolding in the 1990s in the realm of criminal justice for youth offenders.