Dyadic Forgiveness and Energy Shifts Explored in Research Book | Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking

Sun, 01/15/2023 - 15:20

This major and original research project shows how restorative justice dialogue works, and highlights the role of forgiveness within it. Based on interviews of victims who went through Victim Offender Dialogue with responsible persons in prison, it looks at how energy shifts in dialogue between harming and harmed parties can lessen the toxicity associated with the crime and bring about a deeper experience of emotional release.

Synopsis: A groundbreaking book founded on extensive original research, designed to determine how restorative dialogue works, and the role of forgiveness within it. The research involved interviews with 20 victims who went through a Victim Offender Dialogue (used in crimes of severe violence), and documents how the shifts in energy during the course of their dialogue moves the toxicity associated with the crime to a different place. This study explores the role of bilateral forgiveness in restorative work and addresses key questions about the role of forgiveness in restorative justice, such as how it can be measured. It also outlines a model which explains how the energy flow of dyadic forgiveness in restorative justice dialogue is formed. Rich in data and in findings, this book will deepen understanding of how restorative justice works, and will inform future research and practice in the field.

Lead author and project manager Marilyn Armour, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, University of Texas, Austin. She holds a master’s and a Ph.D. in social work from the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work.Prior to becoming an academic, she was a psychotherapist with an emphasis on violent death, trauma, and family relationships.

Ted Lewis also participated in this project which was funded by the Fetzer Institute of Kalamazoo, Michigan. This involved:

Assisting with a literature review of forgiveness studies
Working with Marilyn Armour to create a theoretical framework for emotional energy dynamics in two-party (dyadic) restorative process
Interviewing 20 victims of murder cases and providing summary content for the book

One major contribution of this book is summed up in the word ‘dyadic’ which means two people working together in a process. Nearly all previous forgiveness studies were done in clinical settings and the focus was on an individual’s capacity to experience inner forgiveness from past harms caused by another person. This study, however, explores how forgiveness can be the fruit of a guided restorative process where both parties, after extensive preparation, provide verbal giftings to each other that result in a relational breakthrough (‘shift happens’), and this then allows each person to be freed up from the negativity that has remained within and between them from the past harm. This is quite different from someone doing their own inner work to reach a freer state of being. It requires a dyadic exchange that amazingly brings a new release to both parties.

The study also confirmed that forgiveness does not have to be explicit, that is, pronounced with forgiveness language, to be real. Implicit forgiveness can also happen in a way that is experientially as profound, if not more profound, than the scenario of forgiving someone outwardly.

To preview a chart in the book that maps out the theoretical framework, click here for a PDF.