Coaching practices for Restorative Justice Questions

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Restorative Justice Questions, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • We’re trying to settle this just between the two of us, but the truth is a whole group felt the fallout and their trust took a hit too
  • Something went wrong between us and everyone immediately jumps to whose fault it is
  • I’m being pushed into a sit-down with the person who hurt me before I’m anywhere near ready, and I can feel that being made to face them right now would set me back rather than help
  • The person did the work to make it right, but everyone’s still keeping them at arm’s length
  • They keep treating what they did as a rule they broke, an abstraction — and they have no real idea what it actually did to me day to day.

Practices that may help

  1. Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr)
    Restorative justice is an approach to harm that focuses on repairing relationships and meeting the needs of those harmed, rather than on punishment. Developed by Howard Zehr and others, it asks three questions: Who was harmed? What do they need? Who is responsible for meeting those needs? Research on restorative programs shows higher victim satisfaction and, in many contexts, lower reoffending compared to conventional punitive approaches — though results vary by context.
  2. Involve the affected community, not just the two parties
    Harm rarely affects only two people — include those affected by the ripple.
    Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr)
  3. Ask the three restorative questions
    Start every harm conversation with: who was hurt, what do they need, and who is responsible for meeting those needs?
    Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr)
  4. Ensure participation is voluntary for all parties
    Restorative processes only work when everyone — especially the harmed party — chooses to participate.
    Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr)
  5. Aim for reintegration, not permanent labeling
    Accountability is not a permanent identity; the goal is for the responsible party to re-enter the community as a full member.
    Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr)
  6. Make the harm visible through an impact statement
    The person who caused harm must hear — in detail — what the harm actually did to the person harmed.
    Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr)
  7. Build a concrete accountability agreement
    Accountability is a plan, not just a feeling — write down what will be done, by whom, and by when.
    Restorative Justice (Howard Zehr)
  8. Make justice the criterion for action in relationships
    Ask, in every significant interaction: what does justice — giving each person what they are genuinely owed — require here?
    The Stoic Discipline of Action
  9. Facilitated reconciliation circle
    Bring all affected parties together with a neutral guide to name harm, ask forgiveness, and restore relationship.
    Ho'oponopono: Hawaiian Forgiveness and Reconciliation
  10. The keeper holds process, not content
    The circle keeper’s job is to protect the process — not to facilitate outcomes, give advice, or judge.
    The Circle Process (Kay Pranis)

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