Lineages

Restorative Justice and circle work originate from Indigenous practices worldwide, particularly in the relational and community-based justice and Indigenous law practices of many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities on Turtle Island, as well as Māori communities in Aotearoa (“Utu”) and other Indigenous groups around the world. These traditions emphasize collective responsibility, belonging, healing, and the dignified reintegration of those who have caused harm rather than punitive measures. In many Indigenous legal systems, justice is seen as a process of restoring balance rather than assigning blame, often involving community gatherings, storytelling, and community-driven agreements to repair harm. Contemporary Restorative Justice draws from those Indigenous frameworks and grows with movements for prison abolition and faith-based peacemaking practices¹ (for example, Indigenous cosmologies on Turtle Island, Māori traditions, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Mennonite and Quaker traditions). Restorative Justice is currently and historically practiced around the world in formal and informal justice processes, including in China², Rwanda³, South Africa⁴, and on Turtle Island in movements for racial justice⁵.

Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, Restorative Justice was increasingly institutionalized within criminal justice systems, particularly on Turtle Island, through victim-offender mediation, sentencing circles, and community conferencing models. While these adaptations have brought restorative practices into mainstream use, they often operate within the constraints of state-run legal systems, which can dilute and limit their transformative potential. As a result, some Indigenous justice practitioners advocate for the decolonization of Restorative Justice, ensuring that it remains rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems rather than being reshaped to fit Western legal frameworks.

Transformative Justice emerged from the organizing and survival strategies of systemically and structurally oppressed communities, particularly Black, Indigenous, and queer and trans people who recognized that state systems—policing, prisons, and courts—often perpetuate rather than resolve harm. Transformative Justice took root within communities who would face further danger if police were called. In her book We Do This 'Til We Free Us, Mariame Kaba defines Transformative Justice as a community process developed by anti-violence activists of color who aimed to create responses to violence that address what criminal punishment systems fail to do: build support and more safety for the person harmed, understand the broader context that enabled the harm, and change that context to reduce the likelihood of future harm. Drawing from abolitionist, feminist, and disability justice movements, Transformative Justice builds upon the critiques of Restorative Justice, arguing that harm cannot be truly addressed without dismantling the larger oppressive systems that contribute to it. It is deeply influenced by the work of groups like INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence and Critical Resistance, which have long argued that carceral approaches to harm disproportionately impact communities of color, sex workers, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. Unlike Restorative Justice, which often works within or alongside legal systems, Transformative Justice seeks community-based, self-determined solutions to harm that do not rely on state institutions.

The roots of Transformative Justice are also traced to radical mutual aid networks, disability justice frameworks, and Black feminist thought, particularly the work of scholars and activists like Angela Davis, Mariame Kaba, and adrienne maree brown. These thinkers emphasize that justice must not only repair individual harm but also transform the conditions that enable harm in the first place, such as colonization, capitalism, and racism. Transformative Justice practices include community accountability processes, survivor support networks, pod mapping⁶, and interventions that prioritize healing, education, and structural change rather than retribution. Transformative Justice is a vital framework for communities resisting systemic oppression and envisioning new possibilities for collective safety and care outside of punitive systems.

Naming that the practices of Restorative and Transformative Justice are and were developed by Indigenous Peoples, queer and trans people, and people of the global majority reminds us that racial justice and decolonization are core tenets of Restorative and Transformative Justice. As some of Conflict Witch’s practitioners are white settlers of European descent practicing Restorative and Transformative Justice, as well as circle processes when appropriate, our team recognizes that co-opting these traditions without naming and uplifting their origins is a form of cultural appropriation.

1. Hadley, Michael L. (Editor) The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001). 
2. Shen, Y. (2016) Development of restorative justice in China: Theory and practice. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 5(4): 76‐86. DOI: 10.5204/ijcjsd.v5i4.339. 
3. Gabagambi, Julena Jumbe (2018) A Comparative Analysis of Restorative Justice Practices in Africa. Hauser Global Law School Program, pp. 1-23. Brehm, Hollie Nyseth. Genocide, Justice and Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 2014, Vol. 30(3) 333-352. 
4. Tutu, Desmond. No Future without Forgiveness (New York: Random House, 1999). Chapter 2, pp. 15-32. Minow, Martha, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence. Chapter 4, pp. 52-90. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998). 
5. Davis, Fania E. J.D., Ph.D. Lyubansky, Mikhail Ph.D., Schiff, Mara Ph.D.; Restoring Racial Justice (2017), pp. 1-18.
6. https://batjc.org/files/Pods-Pod-Mapping-Worksheet.pdf

Restorative Justice, Transformative Justice, and Conflict Mediation Lineages:

Most of all, I have been privileged to learn from the people I have worked with over the years who have bravely shown up to conflict and justice processes ready and willing to grow. I am humbled by the deep transformation I have had the honor to witness walking alongside people who have caused and  experienced harm. You make me believe another world is possible, one where belonging, dignity, and respect are centered for all people, and repair is possible.

I first came to the work of Restorative Justice while learning about Indigenous Law (Tll’ Yahdaa, “to make things right”) from knowledge holders on Haida Gwaii. I would not be on this path without those Elders, cultural teachers, and lands and waters, and I share a heart-full Hawaa to the sovereign Haida Nation for all I have learned with them on their land.

I also would like to name the lessons I learned from Indigenous facilitators of Onashowewin (“the way we see justice” in Ojibwe) Justice Circles on Treaty One Territory. Onashowewin provides culturally informed Transformative and Restorative Justice supports to people who have caused harm. They champion cultural healing, supportive programming, and providing wrap-around services like employment and housing. The latter support is offered in recognition of how cultural and structural violence are often at the heart of the root causes of harm.

I am deeply grateful for the voices of the following authors and movement leaders who have been essential in my learning about conflict, somatics, and Restorative and Transformative Justice: Prentis Hemphill, adrienne maree brown, Kai Cheng Thom, Mia Mingus, Shira Hassan, Fania Davis, Angela Davis, Resmaa Menakem, Priya Parker, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.

I would also like to uplift and name the learning I have done alongside colleagues in Restorative and Transformative Justice, including with the teachers and students at the United Nations University for Peace, Menno Simons College, Peacing It Together (Treaty One Territory), Restorative Justice Victoria (Songhees and Esquimalt Land), and Restorative Justice Nanaimo (Snuneymuxw Territory).

Firstly, I have learned the most magic from listening and being with the earth and elementals. I learn of seasonal cycles, of tidal ebb and flow, of transformation, of grounding, of fiery passion, and deep breaths. Gratitude to the cedar trees, the nettle, the rose, the motherwort, the tulsi, the rushing springtime rivers and waterfalls, the wide-open lakes, and the salty ocean.

I have had the pleasure of learning with and from many witches and edgewalkers along my path in magic and in conflict transformation. This has included time spent together at Witch Camps, in ritual immersions, in conversation, and through writing. I would like to name some of my teachers here:

Rain Crowe, Sharon Pink, Fio Gede Parma, Coyote Preston Vargas, Seraphina Capranos, Irisanya Moon, Ember Andrews, Suzanne Sterling, the witches of the 13th House Mystery School, the witches of Reclaiming, and the witches of Village Witch Therapy.

Thank you to my guides and the wise and well ancestors in my lineage who made their own families, read tea leaves, and stayed strong and full of humour in the face of adversity.

To my beloveds, sister & sibling witches, sub rosa coven mates, and chosen family:

The ones who do magic in the forest, with the mycelium, in the rivers, lakes, and oceans, under a tree by taco truck stops, in backyards—often naked—in the bath together, with belly laughter and with the blessed salt of tears. I share gratitude for those I’ve been in conflict with, who have shared hard feedback with me, who have shared their “no’s” with me. I share gratitude for those with whom hours pass like minutes, with whom adventure is a state of mind (and we’re usually in it), and with whom I can be so completely and wholly myself.

Love makes a family. Thank you for being mine.