sujatha baliga - Restorative Justice: From the Paradigm of Punishment to Ecosystems of Healing

Thomas is joined by restorative justice facilitator and public speaker sujatha baliga. They discuss Restorative Justice - a term coined by Howard Zehr that represents a paradigm shift in the way we think about harm and wrongdoing. It calls us to eschew the extreme and ineffective punitiveness of the criminal justice system in favor of community-based processes that align with our interdependent nature. 

Sujatha explains how her methods were inspired by three groups - the Mennonites, the Navajo tribe, and the Buddhist Nalanda tradition. She reveals that her work is not only more effective in addressing the root causes of crime, and reducing repeated incidents of harm, but is also planting seeds for a radically more just future.

Key Points:

01:48 Sujatha’s journey to her advocacy

08:18 Restorative justice vs. the current justice system

11:40 What it means to be well-resourced

16:52 Restorative justice is sustainable

19:57 The factors to facilitate a restorative process

25:56 The responsibility of the oppressed

34:12 Transformation starts within us

37:40 How can communities contribute?

44:25 Addressing collective issues with restorative justice

---------------

sujatha baliga’s work is characterized by an equal dedication to people who’ve experienced and caused harm and violence. A former victim advocate and public defender, sujatha is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences about her decades of restorative justice work. She also speaks publicly and inside prisons about her own experiences as a survivor of child sexual abuse and her path to forgiveness. Her personal and research interests include the forgiveness of seemingly unforgivable acts, survivor-led movements, restorative justice’s potential impact on racial disparities in our legal systems, and Buddhist approaches to conflict transformation. She’s a member of the Gyuto Foundation in Richmond, CA, where she leads meditation on Monday nights. She was named a 2019 MacArthur Fellow.

Website: https://www.sujathabaliga.com/

Twitter & Instagram: @sujathabaliga

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujatha-baliga-9813184/

----------------

Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since 2004, he has taught and facilitated programs with more than 100,000 people worldwide, including online courses which he began offering in 2008. The origin of his work and more than two decades of study and practice on healing collective trauma is detailed in his book Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds

Connect with Thomas:

Website: https://thomashuebl.com/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/Thomas.Huebl.Sangha/

Instagram/Twitter: @thomashuebl

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thomashuebl

Sign up for updates by visiting our website:

👉 pointofrelationpodcast.com