Welcome to The Prison Post. My always brilliant co-host, Jason Bryant, rejoins me for a power packed restorative justice conversation with Amanda Carrasco. This is our first episode with someone who shares about Restorative Justice from the perspective of the victim/survivor. She shares how she's been impacted by horrific acts of violence including the murder of her family and how in spite of the very real trauma, she is still a very strong proponent of Restorative and Transformative Justice.

Amanda Carrasco has a passion for believing in people who face challenging circumstances and equipping them to meet their goals, which comes from her own lives experience with multiple traumas. She is an advocate for human rights through restorative justice and government policy change. She is a volunteer for CROP and a political advocate locally and abroad which included serving as Honorary Vice -Consul for the republic of Kenya. She holds three master’s degrees in leadership, public policy and law. She owns a company that works with students from around the world and builds community while enhancing their education. She teaches Politics and Government for a University in Vancouver BC but even more than all those accomplishments, her greatest title she has ever held has been, “mom.”

She doesn't just talk about restorative justice, she lives it. She flew all the way out to California to spend several days with us and even visited our homes. She is a volunteer at CROP Organization and looks to move to California in the near future. She generously shares her story and we discuss topics like: Does punishment make societies safer? How the justice system has removed the victim from the restorative justice process? The two sides of restorative justice namely, the restoration of the person(s) harmed and the restoration of the person who caused the harm. This leads into an exploration of how restorative justice also centers on the victim and how acknowledging that can facilitate at minimum a greater understanding of the crime and likely more healing for both parties.

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