Circle Process and
Restorative Justice
By Sayra Pinto
Harold and Phil Gatensby began to use circles in the context of restorative justice in the 80s. Since then, circles have been used within the field of restorative justice to address harm in communities by engaging people in processes of accountability.
Much has been written about circles in the restorative justice field. However, the use of circles in restorative justice efforts has become dominated by White professionals employed by criminal justice institutions that have little to no exposure to indigenous ways of thinking and of being in community.
There has been little to no attention paid to issues of oppression, race, power, and privilege in the application of circles. This is highly problematic given the fact that communities of color are disproportionately at risk of engagement with the criminal justice system.
Circles in restorative justice are now the tools at the disposal of unrepresentative institutions to implement processes that can easily become oppressive to people of color. I know this because I often run into people of color who refuse to sit in circle process as a result of past experiences of cultural appropriation, misuse of power, misunderstanding of the core philosophies and mechanics of the process, and a general sense of lack of psychological safety.
In the 21st century, many practitioners have begun to understand the need to connect to Elders and teachers to create relationships of accountability and support in their work with communities and institutions. A desire to be in right relationship with this process burns deeply in the hearts and minds of many practitioners. As restorative practices/justice applications of circles are largely devoid of connections to communities, to Elders and teachers, and to the cultural/historical/spiritual underpinnings of circles, it is evident that there needs to be a course correction process to encourage these efforts to be rooted in relationships of nurturance and accountability.
Of late, circle process was introduced to western educational practitioners, organizations and institutions by indigenous communities. However, despite the best efforts of Indigenous, Black, and Brown practitioners, circles have been largely appropriated and secularized through restorative justice and educational programs and organizations due to a number of factors such as:
1. The lack of understanding of the role of elders and teachers in maintaining fidelity with the process.
2. A spectrum of ignorance about Indigenous philosophies, values, worldviews, and ethics that are the underpinnings of the process.
3. A stubborn and discriminatory undervaluing of communities and their roles in transforming institutions mandated to be in service to those very communities.
For a Loving Future offers ceremonial invitation as a path to building shared narratives about the origins, purpose, and applications of circle process.
We have applied circles in the following contexts:
Tribal and intertribal proceedings
Interventions with gangs, and gang involved youth and young adults
Interventions and support processes with immigrant communities
Civic engagement initiatives
Cross-sector collaborations
Anti-racist trainings with police, school, hospital, and city government personnel
Cross-sector dialogues about intersectional oppression
Engaging domestic violence survivors in personal leadership and economic justice work
Domestic violence organizations in the process of rethinking organizational structures to enhance survivor-responsiveness and anti-oppression work
Cross-sector dialogues about multi-systemic change
Ongoing organizational team building, values alignment, and strategic development
At the same time, we have encountered tremendous challenges due to cultural appropriation, racism, and intersectional oppression within the very organizations, scholars, practitioners, and communities that have embraced circles practice. We do this work as a direct response to the glaring need for innovative community engagement and systems change practices as well as to the lack of accountability and misuse of circles practice by individuals, groups, and organizations who have not thoughtfully endeavored to understand power and privilege in their circle work.
The context of communities
We have observed how individual, group, and organizational agendas interfere with the voices of communities who begin to learn what it means to use their power to effect change.
Time and time again, the interests of individuals, groups, and organizations trump the stated interests of community members who learn to use their voices through the circles process only to be met with unresponsive practitioners, scholars, and organizations. These trends can be discouraging and at least once, I felt compelled to leave this work behind.
We believe it is imperative that the application of circles process occurs in the context of communities of learning incorporated by practitioners, scholars, and organizations that are interested in exercising accountability practices with those whom they are pledged to serve. Given past experiences, we believe it is important to create a neutral body of practitioners and thought leaders that can support the ongoing learning and accountability processes of practitioners, scholars, and organizations seeking to implement circles within their field and/or discipline.
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