Howard Zehr

Howard J. Zehr (born 2 July 1944) is Professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Zehr previously served 19 years as director of Mennonite Central Committee’s Office on Crime and Justice. He is considered a pioneer in the field of restorative justice, a response to criminal justice that focuses on repairing harm rather than establishing deterrence. ^[1]

Zehr is the author of The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice and numerous other books. He received his B.A. from Morehouse College in 1965, M.A., from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Zehr was awarded the 2003 International Prize for Restorative Justice by Prison Fellowship International’s Centre for Justice and Reconciliation. He is the recipient of the 2006 Community of Christ International Peace Award.

Works

• Fundamental Concepts of Restorative Justice. Akron, Pennsylvania: Mennonite Central Committee. 1997* Justice: Retribution or Restoration?. Peacework Magazine on the web, April 1999. 1999
• Restorative Justice: When Justice and Healing Go Together. Track Two. 6(3&4) 1997
• "Restorative Justice Signposts: Victim Involvement". OVA Newsletter, Mary Achilles, Victim Advocate, Vol. 4, Issue 1. 2000
• "Family Group Conferences: A Challenge to Victim Offender Mediation?". Victim Offenders Mediation Association Quarterly 7(1):4-8. 1996
• "Justice Paradigm Shift? Values and Visions in the Reform Process." Mediation Quarterly 12(3):207-216. 1995
• Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice.. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 271p. 1990
• "Justice: Stumbling Toward a Restorative Ideal.". In: P. Arthur (ed.), Justice: The Restorative Vision. New Perspectives on Crime and Justice (Issue #7). Akron, PA: Mennonite Central Committee Office of Criminal Justice, pp. 1-15. 1989
• "Retributive Justice, Restorative Justice.". New Perspectives on Crime and Justice (Issue #4). Akron, PA: Mennonite Central Committee Office of Criminal Justice, September, 16p. 1985
• "Mediating the Victim-Offender Conflict.". New Perspectives on Crime and Justice (Issue #2). Akron, PA: Mennonite Central Committee Office of Criminal Justice, September, 30p. 1980
• "Victim Offender Reconciliation: An Incarceration Substitute?". Federal Probation 46(4):63-68. 1982
• Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences.. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 1998
• "Justice that heals: The practice. Paper presented at the Making Crime Pay conference. Wellington, New Zealand, June 1994.". Stimulus 2 (August): 69-74. 1994
• Restorative Family Group Conferences: Differing Models and Guidelines for Practice. Federal Probation. 60(3): 24-29. 1996
• "Restorative justice for crime victims: The promise and the challenge.". In Restorative community justice: Repairing harm and transforming communities, ed. Gordon Bazemore and Mara Schiff, 87-99. With an introduction by Gordon Bazemore and Mara Schiff. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Co. 2001
• "Restorative Justice: The Concept.". Corrections Today. 59(7):68-70. 1997
• "Ways of knowing for a restorative worldview.". Photocopied draft. 2000
• Restorative justice sign posts.. Conciliation Quarterly 20 (3): 11. 2001
• Journey to Belonging: Flight from shame. Reflections: A Journal of the Conflict Transformation Program 1: 6-9. 2002
• Restoring Justice: Envisioning a Justice Process Focused on Healing - Not Punishment. The Other Side 33(5), Sept - Dec 1997. 1997
• Restorative justice and substance abuse: The path ahead. In Bringing restorative justice to adolescent substance abuse, ed. Kathryn G. Herr. Special issue of Youth & Society 33 (December), 314-328. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 2001
• Fundamental Concepts of Restorative Justice. Contemporary Justice Review. 1: 47-55. Reprinted in Restorative Justice. Declan Roche (2003), ed. Pp. 73-81. The International Library of Essays in Law & Legal Theory, Second Series. Aldershot, Hants, England: Dartmouth/Ashgate. 1998
• Victim offender conferencing in Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. Harrisonburg, PA: Eastern Mennonite University, Conflict Transformation Program. 1998
• Restorative justice. Corrections Today. 59(7): 68-114 1997
• Journey to belonging. Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Restorative Justice for Juveniles, October (Tübingen, Germany). 2000
• Journey to Belonging. Paper presented at the Just Peace? Peace Making and Peace Building for the New Millennium conference, held in Auckland, New Zealand, 24-28 April. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Centre for Justice and Peace Development. 2000
• Paradigms of justice- old and new. In Spiritual roots of restorative justice: A collection of faith community perspectives, 37. Ontario, Canada: Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual & Religious Care. 2000
• Journey to Belonging. In, Elmar G.M. Weitekamp and Han-Jurgen Kerner, Restorative Justice: Theoretical Foundations. Deon, UK: Willan Publishing. Pp. 21-31. 2002
• The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2002
• Re-Thinking Criminal Justice: Restorative Justice. Re-Thinking Criminal Justice. 1(May): 1-13. 1995
• Restoring justice. In God and the victim: Theological reflections on evil, victimization, justice, and forgiveness, ed. Lisa Barnes Lampman and Michelle D. Shattuck, 131-159. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; and Neighbors Who Care: Washington, D.C. 1999
• Rethinking God, Justice, and Treatment of Offenders. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation. 35(3/4): 259-285. 2002
• Critical Issues in Restorative Justice: An Inadequate and Overlapping Outline. VOMA Connections 12 (Autumn). Downloaded 22 June 2004. 2002
• Taking Victims and Their Advocates Seriously: A Listening Project. Harrisonburg,VA: Institute for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.
• Ways of Knowing for a Restorative Worldview. In, Elmar Weitekamp and Hans-Jurgen Kerner, eds. Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions.Devon, UK and Portland Oregon: Willan Publishing. Pp. 257-271. 2003
• Justice as Restoration, Justice as Respect. Justice Professional. 11: 71-87. 1998
• Mediating the Victim-Offender Conflict. Mennonite Central Committee. Victim Offender Reconciliation Program. 1980
• Critical Issues in Restorative Justice. Monsey, New York and Cullompton, Devon, UK: Criminal Justice Press and Willan Publishing. 2004
• A Restorative Framework for Community Justice Practice. In, Kieran McEvoy and Tim Newburn,eds., Criminology, Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK and New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan. Pp. 135-152. 2003
• A call for thoughtful response: Conflict Transformation staff thoughts on trauma and healing. Harrisonburg, VA: Eastern Mennonite University, Conflict Transformation Program. 2001
• Listening to Victims—A Critique of Restorative Justice Policy and Practice in the United States. Federal Probation. 68(1): 32-38. 2004
• Family group conferences: A challenge to victim offender mediation?. Accord, a publication of Canadian Mennonite Central Committee. 1996
• Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2001
• The Meaning of Life: Working at the Healing Edge. Offender Program Report. 11:71-87. 1998
• Justice Alternative: A Restorative Approach. The Corrections Psychologist. 30(1). 1998
• Justice Alternatives: A Restorative Perspective. Imbizo. February. 1996
• Restitution Reduces Recidivism. Crime and Justice Network Newsletter. Oct 1990 - Mar 1991. p7. Downloaded 20 January 2005. 1990
• Evaluation and Restorative Justice Principles.. In Elizabeth Elliott and Robert M. Gordon, eds., New Directions in Restorative Justice: Issues, Practice, Evaluation. Cullompton, UK: Willan Publishing. Pp. 296-303. 2005
• The little book of family group conferences: New Zealand style.. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2004
• Restaurando relaciones: Una manera distanta de hacer justicia. San Salvador, El Salvador: Asociación Bienestar Yek Ineme 2001
• The ideas of engagement and empowerment. in, Gerry Johnstone and Daniel W. Van Ness, eds., Handbook of Restorative Justice. Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing. pp. 41-58 2007
• Avaliação e princípios da justiça restaurativa.. en, Catherin Slakmon, Maíra Rocha Machado and Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini (eds.), Novas Direções na Governança da Justiça e da Segurança (Brasília- D.F.: Ministry of Justice of Brazil, United Nations Development Programme – Brazil, and the School of Law of the Getulio Vargas Foundation - São Paulo). pp. 411- 417. 2006
• Maneiras de conhecer para uma visão restaurativa de mundo.. en, Catherin Slakmon, Maíra Rocha Machado and Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini (eds.), Novas Direções na Governança da Justiça e da Segurança (Brasília- D.F.: Ministry of Justice of Brazil, United Nations Development Programme – Brazil, and the School of Law of the Getulio Vargas Foundation - São Paulo). pp. 419-432. 2006
• El pequeño libro de la justicia restaurativa.. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2007
• Why Can't We Just Apologize?. The Crime Victims Report. 11(3):38. 2007

Notes

External links

• Restorative Justice Blog at Eastern Mennonite University
• Professional Page at Eastern Mennonite University
• Article on Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr
• Class Notes: Howard Zehr '65 Wins Prestigious Award