Materials · Reading & reference
Resources
Reading and reference materials for attendees, shared by conference speakers and partners. More will be added as the conference approaches.
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Restorative Justice: A Primer for Judges
A concise introduction to restorative justice in criminal matters, from definitions and core practices to state law, courts, and common judicial questions. Written by conference speakers Amy Dallas and Thalia González for the Vera Institute of Justice and the UC Law SF Center for Racial and Economic Justice.
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Restorative Justice: A Primer for Prosecutors
The companion volume for prosecutors, from the Prosecutors Alliance. Covers the evidence on recidivism and victim satisfaction, how program models vary, in-house versus community-based programs, victim engagement, youth cases, building a referral pipeline, and the common pitfalls. Published June 2026.
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The State of Restorative Justice in American Criminal Law
An empirical survey of the law that actually governs restorative justice in the United States, built from a dataset of 264 statutes, court rules, and regulations across 46 jurisdictions. Finds that most restorative justice law is highly localized and leaves wide discretion to decision makers, that formal state-level confidentiality protections are largely missing, and that some jurisdictions have begun charging fees for access. Written by conference speaker Thalia González for the Wisconsin Law Review, 2020.
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The Overlooked Victim Right
Conference speaker Lynn S. Branham’s Denver Law Review Forum article arguing that victim-survivors should be accorded a legal right of access to restorative-justice processes, grounded in their core needs and the research on what restorative participation provides.
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The Story of Veterans Treatment Courts
An edited transcript from Justice Today, the official podcast of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, in which Judge Robert T. Russell Jr. of Buffalo, New York recounts founding the nation’s first veterans treatment court and the roughly 500 courts that have followed.
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She Made a Fatal Choice at 22
A CalMatters feature by Joe Garcia following Grace Coleman, who caused a fatal DUI crash at 22 and is serving a life sentence at the California Institution for Women, as she works at accountability, recovery, and rebuilding herself inside prison. Published August 27, 2026.
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Restorative Justice in Action
Travis County’s approach to youth crime prevention. A FUSE case study of the Travis County Transformation Project in Austin, Texas, a pre-arrest pilot developed with District Attorney José Garza’s office that gives families of 15- and 16-year-olds involved in family violence at home an alternative to arrest and detention.
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Teaching Criminal Justice from Lived Experience
Criminal Justice Journalists’ digest of Wisconsin Examiner reporting on “Criminal Justice System: A Lived Experience Perspective,” a University of Wisconsin Law School course co-taught by Dant’e Cottingham, who was incarcerated in Wisconsin until his parole in 2022 and now works in reentry at the law school’s Frank J. Remington Center, with clinical professor Adam Stevenson.
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They Agreed to Meet Their Mother’s Killer. Then Tragedy Struck Again.
Eli Hager examines restorative justice in Jacksonville homicide cases, exploring survivors’ needs, the promise and limits of victim-offender dialogue, and the importance of preparation, informed expectations, and experienced facilitation.
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The Business of Incarceration
Conference speaker Tolliny Rankins’s guide to Florida’s prisons, public spending, and the people behind the numbers. Drawing on research and lived experience, it explores incarceration, racial disparities, aging, and reentry, with facility directories, source references, and ideas for community partnerships.
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A Survey of 500 Defendants about Restorative Justice
Conference speaker Gretchen Casey’s report on a 2018 survey of 500 people in prison or on probation, examining their awareness of restorative justice and interest in participating in restorative conversations with victims. Includes the survey questions and findings by offense type and relationship to the victim, based on a nonprobability convenience sample. Report dated June 2019.
Have a resource you would like to see here? Write to rjconference2026@gmail.com.