dougnoll’s posthaven

Segment 1: From War-Torn Vietnam to Restorative Justice.  On this edition of The Doug Noll Show we have the honor of speaking with Dr. Carl Stauffer, Assistant Professor of Development and Justice Studies at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Dr. Stauffer grew up in Vietnam, as his parents were missionaries. The Stauffer family lived among the Vietnam people and saw the impact of the war from that perspective. They fled the country a mere 3 weeks before Saigon fell to the communist government. Carl tells us it was very surreal, but he never felt terror to the credit of his parents. Eventually his family made their way to another part of the city where there was less fighting, and then to the Philippines.

Dr. Stauffer was an early proponent of Restorative Justice movement (first called Victim Offender Reconciliation). He believes the research – especially the neuroscience aspect - is finally starting to catch up with the practice. Our brains are actually chemically wired to try to find the humanity in another person, and to empathize.

Segment 2: Interest in Healing, But No Opportunity.  There is something magical and transformative about the restorative justice process. The capacity for human compassion surpasses understanding. All we need to do is give willing victims and offenders the ability to do this in a safe space and it simply unfolds.

Carl and his young family spent 16 years in South Africa. A mediation trainer position opened up in Johannesburg and they made their way there, along with their two small children. At that time there was a lot of political violence that he did not take lightly. In their years there they did race reconciliation, post-war reconstruction, and transitional justice. Carl believes South Africa enjoyed a partial restorative justice process, but not a true restorative justice. It gave a voice to victims, and made people accountable. However, there wasn’t an attachment to remorse, and there was little or no restitution. There was a lot of interest from the African communities in mending the harm of apartheid, but no opportunity. 

Segment 3: Justice is a Human Need.  So how do we heal ourselves? How do we find justice in a community context? And what exactly is justice? This discussion doesn’t make sense unless we reframe the definition of justice. Dr. Stauffer defines justice as imbedded in relationships. We need to ask ourselves how we can build respect and accountability and work out issues without violence. This can only happen when we work on relationships; it’s not going to happen by a set of codes or legal parameters on paper. The myth of Adversary Ideology permeates western law and judicial teaching.  True justice is an actual human need.

Segment 4: Revenge Is Short-Lived.  Vengeance arises out of the dopamine center of the brain. However, the problem with our brain is that once you get revenge, you feel no pleasure. We have an escalation cycle of punishment without reward. What’s really interesting is that when you bring people together to work on reconciliation, there is a huge dopamine release as people come to an agreement and feel peace. We get no reward to anticipating peace; we only get the reward when we achieve it. Sweet revenge might be there in a moment, but it is very short-lived.

All the things that the criminal justice system stands on, such as incapacitation, deterrents and rehabilitation, are not being backed up by research. They are not effective and yet we are continue to pour a huge amount of resources into them. With restorative justice we are repairing harm and mending society. To find out more about Carl’s work and the classes he teaches, visit http://emu.edu/personnel/people/show/cds494.

CLICK HERE to listen to the entire interview.