"Restoring Justice" a Discussion with Professor Rachel López

Join us to hear from Professor Rachel López about her new project. The piece, Restoring Justice, was co-authored with a mother whose son was killed in a high school shooting. It recounts the mother’s efforts to pursue restorative justice with those responsible and details the institutional barriers that she encountered. The authors develop a doctrinal and normative critique of “punitive victimhood,” which is a framework that recognizes rights only insofar as they align with criminal punishment. They argue that victims should retain the right to hope that those who caused profound harm to them are capable of transformation. Recognition of that right would require states to facilitate restorative justice just as they facilitate criminal punishment.