The Institute for Restorative Justice and Restorative Dialogue (IRJRD) seeks to build a national mindset that embraces restorative justice principles. Its mission is to advance meaningful accountability, victim healing and community safety through the use of restorative justice solutions to repair the harm related to conflict, crime and victimization.
Restorative justice is a fast-growing state, national, and international victim-centered response to wrongdoing that gives individuals adversely affected by a criminal act the opportunity to be directly involved in responding to the harm caused by the crime. It views crime as a violation of people and interpersonal relationships that creates obligations and liabilities. Its goals are to hear and put right the wrongs through engaging victims, offenders and community members in restorative dialogue and the creation of mutually beneficial solutions .
IRJRD, an institute within The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, was established in 2008 to provide support to the rapidly emerging restorative justice initiatives in Texas, many of which have national implications. IRJRD provides the following services:
- Opportunities for training
- Education on restorative justice principles and practice models
- Guidance and consultation on program development
- Evaluation research on program effectiveness.
Meeting these needs ensures that Texas-based restorative justice programs are positioned to succeed and become national models.
