Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth: Bringing Justice Home

by Carolyn Boyes-Watson

Peacemaking Circles and Urban Bringing Justice Home, by Dr. Carolyn Boyes-Watson (the director of the Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk University) explores how the Circle process is being used by a remarkably innovative youth center outside Boston. Nearly twenty years in operation, Roca, Inc., works with immigrant, gang, and street youth. Using Circles extensively not only with youth but also with the families and community as well as throughout the organization is integral to Roca''s effectiveness. "Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth" tells a compelling and inspiring story for any organization or person who works with young people, particularly troubled youth who desperately need community-based support to change the trajectory of their lives.

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Carolyn Boyes-Watson is the founding Director of Suffolk University’s Center for Restorative Justice and Associate Professor of Sociology at Suffolk University. Professor Boyes-Watson has been on the faculty since 1993. She is also currently Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, the prisoners’ rights organization of Massachusetts.

She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's and Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, Mark, and her two children, Emily and Matthew.

Her current research interests include restorative justice and criminal justice policy and she teaches in the areas of criminal justice, juvenile justice and restorative justice. She has published in the area of restorative justice, criminal justice, technology and social control and drug policy. Her most recent book is Peacemaking Circles & Urban Youth: Bringing Justice Home (Living Justice Press, 2008).

- Compiled from The Ikeda Center and Living Justice Press

Reviews

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book recounts the use of peacemaking circles in the organization Roca, located in Chelsea, MA on the northern near cities of Boston, MA. through the use of circles for various purposes Roca has developed an approach to youthwork that includes positive youth development, transformative relationships, and circle processes that help young people find their voice, experience acceptance, develop the capacity for empathy and receive unconditional support tempered with personal accountability. As a former youthworker in Boston in the late 1970s (before the founding of Roca in the late 1980's I would have welcomed the insights Roca has gained and used in its work both with urban youth and the agencies and institutions that interact with youth on a daily basis.

A very inspiring and informative work for those who work with youth, seek to address ongoing problems of violence and transform the way we think about justice3. For Roca and its circles, justice is not about getting back or getting even, but about the healing of individuals, relationships, and systems.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a social worker fresh out of college, I had a lot of ideas in my head about what good social work should 'look like'. I was quickly disabused of the notion that I would actually get to put any of those ideas into practice. This book gives me hope that not only were my ideas valid, they would be and are successful when actually implemented. ROCA engages disconnected youth in their communities and provides opportunities to engage in positive activities and discussion on their own terms, without judgment and with understanding of their complex and painful situations. I really honor the work that was done on this book and that ROCA does daily with youth. I hope that one day I can see their work firsthand.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic, thorough and heartfelt description of how the Roca program learned the process of incorporating peacemaking circles as an integral part of their program. Anyone who works with at-risk kids would benefit from reading this book.

[Patricia]

powerful story of Roca, an organization working with youth in Boston suburbs. Reminds us of the capacity for change and healing.