CANCELED - Restorative Justice and State Law: Challenges and Opportunities for Criminal Justice Reform

March 30, 2020 • 12:30 PM • Law School 4047

Traditionally conceived as a social service adjunct to public systems to address the needs of victims, restorative justice has increasingly been codified into state law and operationalized into multiple stages of formal legal processes, from pre-charge diversion to post-sentencing. In this talk, Professor Thalia González (Occidental, Georgetown Law) will argue the legal internalization of restorative justice has heightened the need for judges, attorneys, and advocates to not only understand it theoretically, but also pragmatically, as they must now make decisions regarding the use of and access to restorative justice at different stages of legal processes. Drawing on an original 50-state dataset of state statutes, court rules and regulations, she will discuss key empirical findings, implications, trends, and limitations of restorative justice laws in juvenile and criminal justice systems. She will also highlight critical ethical and constitutional considerations. Lunch will be provided. Sponsored by the Duke Criminal Law Society. For more information, please contact Juliet Park at juliet.park@duke.edu.