USA / Legal and judicial
Biography: Dr. Sandra Pavelka serves as Professor and Founding Director of the Institute for Youth and Justice Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. Dr. Pavelka previously served as Project Administrator of the Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) Project, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, US DOJ. She provides consultation, training and technical assistance with legislators, justice system and educational stakeholders, and victim advocates in the development and implementation of restorative justice principles, practices, legislation, policies and evaluation.
Topic: Lawmakers and justice system administrators seek to clarify the aims of justice management and policy, while exploring possibilities for the future of the justice system beyond individual treatment/rehabilitation and retributive justice. Legislators and justice system administrators have reformed their juvenile justice agenda from punitive actions to a means that provides responses to crime and wrongful occurrences by developing and implementing restorative legislation and policies. Restorative justice seeks to balance the needs of the victim, offender and community by repairing the harm caused by wrongdoing and delinquent acts. Dr. Pavelka will present her research that found a majority of states in the US have incorporated restorative justice in statute or code that include general provisions and intent, practices, funding and evaluation. The state of Colorado, which notably implements systemic reform by integrating restorative justice principles and practices in law and policy, is examined as a model state.
