A Way to Strengthen Community and to Address Harm

The Restorative Justice (RJ) Mindset

Restorative justice practices are based on indigenous practices of coming together to build and strengthen communities, and these are the traditional practices of justice for some indigenous communities across the world. At UCSF, we are integrating the RJ mindset into efforts focused on strengthening our community proactively by forging trust, building understanding, and creating the foundation for healthy working relationships among and between students, colleagues, faculty, and leadership. The goal is to create a harmonious community where harmful acts are unlikely; but when harm is done, RJ practices can be applied as a response to address the harm, identify individual and community needs, and restore the community.

The wide application of restorative justice practices has the potential to transform people, relationships, and whole communities, including our UCSF community. It is UCSF's responsibility to nurture an environment that supports UCSF’s Principles of Community and our UCSF PRIDE Values. Incorporating restorative justice practices into our UCSF community is a powerful way of doing just that.