Punishing the Poor: Criminalizing Poverty

press release: Ron Johnson, current Coordinator of Dane County’s Community Restorative Court, presents "Restorative Justice: Join the Movement."

Mr. Johnson will lay out the basic tenets of restorative justice and its application as it relates to resolving disputes in communities and between individuals. The presentation will include the restorative justice application as it relates to the criminal justice system, and the cultural history of restorative justice as a healing force derived from Native American culture. He will talk about the ethical implications of restorative justice, and contrast the traditional criminal justice system with the restorative approach.

Ron Johnson is a former middle school teacher and principal. For 15 years, he directed the City of Milwaukee’s youth gang diversion program. Later, he coordinated Marquette University’s Safe Streets Restorative Justice program.

Currently, he is the Coordinator of Dane County’s Community Restorative Court. He is the co-founder of Project Ujima (at Wisconsin Children’s Hospital in MKE) and the founder of the Jaha Workshop’s Father & Son Retreat.Registration is appreciated for this event. Online here or by email at info@midlibrary.org.

This event is part of a series created by the Waunakee Public Library called "Punishing the Poor: Criminalizing Poverty" that will examine the relationship between poverty and incarceration. The series is made possible by a grant from the Beyond the Page Foundation. For a full list of events in this series at other Dane County libraries, click here.