Center for Restorative Justice

What is Restorative Justice

  • A set of convictions and practices for addressing harm, RJ asks questions like:
    • What needs are created when harm occurs in a community?
    • What kinds of obligations emerge?
    • How can wrongdoers be held accountable and brokenness repaired?
  • An ethos—an intentional, all-encompassing way of seeing and being—in which trust, friendship, equity, vulnerability, joy, and the flourishing of all are its visible features.

Who We Are

  • Co-Directors

    Dr. Debra Dean Murphy (she/her) is Professor of Religious Studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She teaches a wide range of courses, including Women and Religion, Environmental Theology, and God and Globalization. Dr. Murphy has written two books, numerous articles, essays, and book reviews, and currently writes a regular column for the national publication The Christian Century. She likes to refinish furniture, listen to podcasts when she runs, cook for family, friends, and students, and incorporate meditation practices and restorative circle processes in her classrooms.

    Dr. Jess Scott (she/they) is Associate Professor of Gender Studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is also organist at First United Methodist Church in Clarksburg, WV. Dr. Scott has degrees in music performance (University of Illinois), social science, and gender studies (University of Cape Town). She writes and publishes about gender, sexuality, intersectionality, spatial politics, and racial justice. Her pet pigs are the subject of her first children’s book, Miss Penelope Thundertoes Changes her Mind. Her fiercest desire is to love her country into a less punitive way of engaging with the entire world.

  • 2023-2024 Interns

    Kendra Goeddert

    My name is Kendra Goeddert (she/her) and I am a senior from Lewisburg, WV, pursuing degrees in Sociology and Political Science with the goal of attaining my Master’s in Social Work with a specialization in Political Advocacy. I am involved in several organizations on campus  including Zeta Tau Alpha, Student Senate, WE LEAD: Poverty Reduction, Appalachian Impact, PRISM, and the 1G Link Mentoring Program. I currently serve leadership roles in Zeta Tau Alpha as the Director of Community Service and in Student Senate as the Center for Community Engagement Representative. Outside of Wesleyan, I am also a member of the U.S. Presidential Scholar Alumni Association and a service volunteer with AmeriCorps. I am incredibly passionate about serving my community and am committed to creating a positive influence wherever I can. I am excited to serve as an intern for the CRJ and take part in such an important project!

    Xavier Scott

    I am Xavier Scott (he/him), a senior Environmental Science major born and raised in Clarksburg, WV. I  served in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Through the Veterans Adminstration’ss Vocational Rehabilitation program, I was afforded the opportunity to return to college and finish my degree. In my free time I like to go fishing, play cornhole, and spend as much time as possible in the outdoors.  My commitment to restorative justice stems from my experience helping fellow veterans to access the benefits they earned through their time in service, advocating for legislation that supports our nation’s veterans, and lobbying lawmakers to act in the best interests of those who are most in need. I was taught from a young age to address injustice wherever I found it, and it is a personal value I try every day to uphold.

    Makayla Garcia

    My name is Makayla Garcia (she/her) and I am from Summersville, WV.  This is my second year serving as an Intern for the Center for Restorative Justice, where I have led numerous circle conversations on campus on topics like racial justice, climate collapse, beloved community, and health care. I am a Senior criminal justice and political science major, as well as a Service Scholar. My current activities on campus include serving as a WE LEAD Coordinator with the Invisible Illness and Poverty Reduction teams, working as a Teaching Assistant in the First Year Experience Program, and offering tutoring services in the Criminal Justice department. Following graduation, I plan to pursue work in the field of harm reduction.

  • Projects & Events
    • Reimagining Justice in West Virginia: A Conference on Restorative Practices. November 19-20.
    • Restorative circle processes with unsheltered/unhoused persons associated with the Homeless Services Initiative of the United Way of Harrison and Doddridge Counties
    • Regular circle conversations on our campus with students, faculty, staff, Greek organizations, sports teams, service organizations, and more
      Major research grant from the One Foundation to address vulnerable populations around housing insecurity
    • Circle Training Events 2-3 times a year with nationally-known facilitator Kay Pranis

    Contact Dr. Debra Murphy at murphy_d@wvwc.edu

  • Resources

    West Virginia Restorative Justice Registry

    Appalachian Prison Book Project

    • Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP)
    • Morgantown, WV
    • Email: appalachianpbp@gmail.com
    • Website: appalachianprisonbookproject.org
    • The Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP) is a nonprofit organization based in Morgantown, WV. APBP sends free books to people imprisoned in six states in the Appalachian region: West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. APBP also facilitates book clubs inside prisons, hosts educational forums, creates community, and works to end the crisis of mass incarceration.

    Essential Change Consultant Services

    • Essential Change Consultant Services
    • Leaders/representatives in this organization: Alyssa Mick and Carrie Graff
    • New Cumberland, WV
    • Contact Information: Alyssa.mick@gmail.com; 681-522-5353
    • Additional Information: Restorative justice training, facilitation, and consultant services. Specializing in school readiness assessments, training, and restorative conference facilitation. Victim-offender dialogues. Family group conferencing.

    Cathy Grewe- Wood County Schools

    • Wood County Schools Student Services
    • Leaders/representatives: Cathay Grewe
    • Wood County, WV
    • Contact Information: cgrewe@k12.wv.us; 304-420-9663; 304-482-3505
    • Additional Information: Training schools and teachers in restorative practices

    Americans for Prosperity

    • Americans for Prosperity
    • Leaders/representatives: Jason Huffman, West Virginia State Director
    • Charleston, WV
    • Contact information: (304) 859-3403; jhuffman@afphq.org
    • Any additional information: Through broad-based grassroots outreach, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is driving long-term solutions to the country’s biggest problems. AFP activists engage friends and neighbors on key issues and encourage them to take an active role in building a culture of mutual benefit, where people succeed by helping one another. We recruit and unite concerned citizens in 35 states to advance policies that will help people improve their lives.
  • How We Define Ourselves
    • A set of convictions and practices for addressing harm, RJ asks questions like:
      • What needs are created when harm occurs in a community?
      • What kinds of obligations emerge?
      • How can wrongdoers be held accountable and brokenness repaired?
    • An ethos—an intentional, all-encompassing way of seeing and being—in which trust, friendship, equity, vulnerability, joy, and the flourishing of all are its visible features.

  • Our Vision

    To participate in the difficult, joyful, necessary work of healing hearts, minds, bodies, and communities through restorative justice convictions and practices.

  • Our Mission

    To learn and to teach, so that our campus and our community partners might live the convictions and practices of restorative justice and invite others to do the same.

  • More

    The work of the CRJ can be effective in many settings where there is brokenness, helping stakeholders imagine and implement ways of dealing with harm and trauma that resist the impulse toward retribution and punishment. For example, our work in schools can help transform systems (and minds and hearts) that often see struggling children as “problems” to whom ineffectual punitive measures are meted out disproportionately, if unwittingly, along racial and ethnic lines. Similarly, we want to create spaces for families and communities impacted by addiction or incarceration to learn skills that can help create the conditions for healing—for restoration, reconciliation, and mutual responsibility.

    From the destruction left in the wake of opioid addiction to the decimation of neighborhoods caused by generational poverty and generations of harm created by extractive industries, there is work to be done to restore life and health and a hopeful future. But for all that can sometimes seem demoralizing about these challenges, this can be joyful, purposeful work! And it is already going on. The CRJ at WVWC is joining with and learning from groups and organizations already committed to restorative justice for persons and communities across our region.

  • Our Partners
  • Contact Us

    Center for Restorative Justice
    59 College Ave, Buckhannon, WV 26201
    Phone: (304) 473-8000

Videos from the conference can be viewed here:  

Reimagining Justice in WV: A Keynote conversation with Howard Zehr
https://youtu.be/gB0IBZLX_Q0

Reimagining Justice in WV: “What is accountability?” with Kay Pranis
https://youtu.be/5AZFh6MjhO8

Reimagining Justice in WV: Afternoon keynote with Ash Lee Henderson
https://youtu.be/9SAxXPx_hqg