Law Journal symposium to explore restorative justice principles


LAWRENCE — Legal scholars and policy experts will gather in Lawrence to discuss the theoretical underpinnings of restorative justice principles at the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy’s annual symposium.

Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.

The symposium, “Restorative Justice,” will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 1, 2019, at the University of Kansas School of Law.

“We hope to use this symposium as a lens to view how different experts in a variety of professions use Restorative Justice in court, through legislation and in other ways outside of the American legal system,” said Jackson Beal, symposium editor.

The program will begin with a look at how restorative justice was used by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina in the Larry Nassar sentencing hearings, a proceeding that received nationwide attention. Following the discussion of the Nassar trial, scholars from across the nation will discuss differing theories of restorative justice and its application in their respective fields.

Presenters include:

  • Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, 30th Circuit Court in Ingham County, Michigan
  • Abigail Barefoot, doctoral student in women, gender & sexuality studies, KU
  • Tricia Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project
  • Paul Cassell, Ronald N. Boyce Presidential Professor of Criminal Law and University Distinguished Professor of Law, S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
  • Williamson Chang, professor of law, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law
  • Sarah Deer, professor, Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies and School of Public Affairs & Administration, KU
  • Trinea Gonczar, former gymnast
  • Laurie Kohn, co-director of the Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics; director of the Family Justice Litigation Clinic, George Washington University Law School
  • Sen. Pete Lee, District 11, Colorado Senate
  • Shawn Watts, clinical associate professor of law, KU School of Law.

Scholarship associated with the program will be published in a future issue of the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy.