Raleigh, NC – A group of 11 undergraduate students from Princeton University visited Campbell Law School during the week of November 1 to meet Professor John Powell, learn more about the law school’s Juvenile Justice Program, and discuss the growing use of restorative justice in the U.S. criminal justice system. Through conversations and small group observation, Professor Powell enhanced the students understanding of the concepts of restorative justice and conflict resolution.
Powell introduced the Princeton students to Kacey Reynolds, a representative from the Capital Justice Restorative Project, a group dedicated to encouraging the use of mediation and conflict resolution to promote restorative justice in communities. Reynolds presented the concept of a “circle process,” a technique used in restorative justice to facilitate communication through the open sharing of thoughts and emotions.
After participating in the circle process, the group watched the documentary “Meeting With a Killer: One Family’s Journey,” the story of Linda White and her granddaughter Amy, who met with Gary Brown, the man who raped and murdered Linda’s daughter and Amy’s mother, Cathy White. This process attempted to restore justice and facilitate healing by allowing Lisa, Amy, and Gary to meet in a safe setting and share their respective stories, emotions, etc. After viewing the film, the students called Linda White and spoke with her via phone to discuss her experience. Viewing the film and speaking White helped the group see how restorative justice can function realistically and, judging from Linda and Amy’s experience, successfully.
“This morning’s visit to the Campbell University School of Law enhanced our understanding of restorative justice in both theory and practice,” said Princeton student Jen Klingman. “It also sparked debate and discussion amongst us about what we respectively perceive to be the positive and negative aspects of restorative justice when it is applied to real-life situations.”
About the Juvenile Justice Project
The Juvenile Justice Project (JJP) is a collaborative effort between the N.C. Governor’s Crime Commission and the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. We receive cases from public schools, juvenile intake counselors, juvenile court and the Capital Area Teen Court Program. The goals of the project are to:
Give juveniles the opportunity to take responsibility for and become accountable for their actions.
Give victims the opportunity to learn about and be intimately involved in the outcome of their case.
Give all parties the opportunity to craft an agreement that will address and resolve the harm which has been caused by criminal activity.
Involve law students in the process of victim/offender mediation as active mediators.
About Campbell Law School
Since its founding in 1976, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. The School has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 3,200 alumni, including 2,200 who reside and work in North Carolina. For 23 years, Campbell Law’s record of success on the North Carolina Bar Exam has been unsurpassed by any other North Carolina law school. Located less than two blocks from the North Carolina state Capitol building in downtown Raleigh, Campbell Law School offers a rigorous and highly relevant program of legal education. For more information, visit law.campbell.edu.