What is Participatory Practice and Why Do We Want it at LCJP?
“Participation is a transformative concept. It is a way of life, a way of seeing the world and a way of being in the world.”
- Margaret Ledwith and Jane Springett
Sitting in a restorative justice conference participants are called upon to share their voices, stories, and experiences. The approach is cooperative: based on dialogue and consensus. Community Justice is a term that emphasizes the community’s ability to be involved in determining what justice is and embodies what LCJP hopes to achieve.
Many who experience community restorative justice for the first time are astonished by the approach. They come into the process not fully knowing what to expect but suspecting it will be similar to the court system. Society has conditioned us to believe that decisions should be made by those who have “the most knowledge,” which In the traditional criminal legal system means the power of decision making has been left to a select few.
Centralized power, historically, has led to much inequality. And very often served as a way for few people to hoard power and exercise control. At the most extreme the abuse of power has led to the continued mistreatment of many people, primarily marginalized groups of people.
Marginalized people more often than not have been left out of decision-making, even when it comes to decisions that affect their lives. The authority of a privileged few has limited the power of marginalized peoples and thus created a cycle that perpetuates inequality.
So, Why Participatory Practice?
“The values that underpin every aspect of the practice are those central to what we would call an ideology of equality: dignity, respect, trust, mutuality, reciprocity, cooperation, and so forth.”
- M. Ledwith and J. Springett
Participatory practice, an approach where all people that are part of a community have a voice in shaping decisions. This is a process which emphasizes collaboration and equality as a way to break down barriers and create social justice. Sound familiar?
If you have been a part of the LCJP community for a while, you might have received a few invitations to participate outside of our community programs. Maybe you have filled out an evaluation after a restorative justice conference, or maybe you responded to a survey that asked you to think about LCJP’s strategic goals.
These are some forms of participatory practice that we want to continue to incorporate and expand in our work. We believe that the collective knowledge of our community is so much larger than what one person alone could conceive of, or achieve if left to their own devices. We certainly can’t do it on our own.
Just last year, in December we invited the LCJP community to a Strategic Plan Open House. Held at the beautiful Clovis Point Apartments staff, board, and volunteers sat together to talk about the strategic priorities for the next three years.
LCJP staff and board shared the goals and objectives from the strategic plan, and everyone got to work brainstorming how these things could happen. Ideas flew around each room; ideas included new opportunities for volunteer participation at LCJP, volunteers as trainers, and leaders! Ideas for new partnerships, and areas of the community where we could take restorative practices. Hours of sharing, and frantic writing revealed pages and pages of opportunities and ideas that volunteers had brainstormed.
As we continue to learn and evolve we recognize the importance of the need for a strong foundation that emphasizes equity and inclusion. We believe in the importance of being accountable to our community, and this means decentralizing power and welcoming all to the table. We are excited to share our goals for the next three years and hope you will join us to find a place to practice being in community.
“This value base provides a system of checks and balances that ensure the validity and integrity of the work.”
- M. Ledwith and J. Springett
Quotes are taken from Margaret Ledwith and Jane Springett’s book Participatory Practice: Community-based action for transformative change