Changing Lenses: Restorative Justice for Our Times / Edition 25

by Howard Zehr

Overview

Does the criminal justice system actually help victims and offenders? What does justice look like for those who have been harmed? For those who have done harm? Twenty-five years after it was first published, Changing Lenses by Howard Zehr remains the classic text of the restorative justice field.

Now with valuable author updates on the changing landscape of restorative justice and a new section of resources for practitioners and teachers, Changing Lenses offers a framework for understanding crime, injury, accountability, and healing from a restorative perspective.

Uncovering widespread assumptions about crime, the courts, retributive justice, and the legal process, Changing Lenses offers provocative new paradigms and proven alternatives for public policy and judicial reform.

What’s New in the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition:

• Author updates of terminology, paradigms, and recommended reading
• Foreword by restorative justice practitioner Sujatha Baliga
• New resources for teachers, facilitators, and practitioners

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780836199475
Publisher:	MennoMedia
Publication date:	06/10/2015
Edition description:	New Edition,25th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	638,333
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Howard Zehr is widely regarded as the grandfather of restorative justice. His work includes trainings and consultations on restorative justice, victim-offender conferencing, judicial reform, and other criminal justice matters, and he has had particular influence in the United States, Brazil, Japan, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Britain, the Ukraine, and New Zealand, which has restructured its juvenile justice system into a family-focused, restorative approach. Zehr is the 2015 recipient of the Ireland Distinguished Scholar Award for his work in restorative justice.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition

Foreword by Sujatha Baliga

PART I: The Experience of Crime

1. A Vignette

2. The Victim

3. The Offender

4. Some Common Themes

PART II: The Justice Paradigm

5. Retributive Justice

6. Justice as Paradigm

PART III: Roots and Signposts

7. Community Justice: The Historical Alternative

8. Covenant Justice: The Biblical Alternative

9. VORP and Beyond: Emerging Practices

PART IV: A New Lens

10. A Restorative Lens

11. Implementing a Restorative System

12. Reflections Twenty-Five Years Later

Resources

Essays

Group Study and Teaching Suggestions

Additional Group Exercises

Bibliographic Essay

Acknowledgments

The Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Maybe one day we’ll integrate some of the principles of civil law into criminal justice, as Howard Zehr advises in his book Changing Lenses.”—Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., in Dead Man Walking

“This book calls for a rethinking of crime and justice and offers a bold new direction. Readers should be aware, however, that it isn’t a handy little volume with simplistic assessments and catchy slogans. The author challenges the definitions and assumptions that color our thinking and shape public policy on crime and justice.”—CBA Marketplace

“If you read only one thing on crime and justice issues, read this. If you plan to read nothing on crime and justice . . . then change your mind and read this. I have a shelf of books on these issues but this is my favorite.”—Arthur P. Boers, associate professor of pastoral theology, Tyndale Seminary

“This book will get you thinking in new ways. It’s the best book on criminal justice I have ever read. Profound and thoughtful, yet written in plain language.”—Jim Mustin, founder, Family and Corrections Network

“A needed book with many suggestions for moving toward a more just criminal system.”—National Catholic Reporter

Editorial Reviews

Now that our nation is finally beginning to come to terms with the immorality and irrationality of our criminal injustice system, I hope that we will reread Howard Zehr’s classic text, Changing Lenses, and accept his challenge to reimagine what justice ought to look like.”

Reviews - Michelle Alexander

If you read only one thing on crime and justice issues, read this. If you plan to read nothing on crime and justice . . . then change your mind and read this. I have a shelf of books on these issues but this is my favorite.”

Reviews - Arthur P. Boers

"This book will change how you think about wrongdoing and justice and mercy."

Reviews - Leymah Gbowee

Maybe one day we'll integrate some of the principles of civil law into criminal justice, as Howard Zehr advises in his book Changing Lenses.”—in Dead Man Walking

Reviews - Sister Helen Prejean

This book will get you thinking in new ways. It’s the best book on criminal justice I have ever read. Profound and thoughtful, yet written in plain language.”

Reviews - Jim Mustin

A needed book with many suggestions for moving toward a more just criminal system.”

Reviews

"A needed book with many suggestions for moving toward a more just criminal system."

-- "Reviews"

"If you read only one thing on crime and justice issues, read this. If you plan to read nothing on crime and justice . . . then change your mind and read this. I have a shelf of books on these issues but this is my favorite."

--Arthur P. Boers, associate professor of pastoral theology "Reviews"

"Maybe one day we'll integrate some of the principles of civil law into criminal justice, as Howard Zehr advises in his book Changing Lenses."--in Dead Man Walking

--Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J. "Reviews"

"Now that our nation is finally beginning to come to terms with the immorality and irrationality of our criminal injustice system, I hope that we will reread Howard Zehr's classic text, Changing Lenses, and accept his challenge to reimagine what justice ought to look like."

--Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow "Reviews"

"This book will get you thinking in new ways. It's the best book on criminal justice I have ever read. Profound and thoughtful, yet written in plain language."

--Jim Mustin, founder, Family and Corrections Network "Reviews"

"This book will change how you think about wrongdoing and justice and mercy."--Leymah Gbowee, winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize "Reviews"

From the Publisher

“A needed book with many suggestions for moving toward a more just criminal system.”

National Catholic Reporter