S2, Episode 4: From Procedural Fairness to Procedural Justice w/Rami El Gharib & Jasmyn Story

The Restorative Lens

Procedural justice concerns the fairness and transparency of the processes by which decisions are made, and may be contrasted with retributive justice (fairness in the punishment of wrongs). Allowing all parties to be heard before a decision is made is one step which may lead to a process being characterized and perceived as procedurally fair. Some theories of procedural justice hold that fair procedure leads to equitable outcomes, even if the requirements of restorative justice are not met. This episode explores the integration of procedural justice and fairness into restorative justice practices as a way to increase the perception of fairness in equitable systems design.

Rami El Gharib is a Lebanese Restorative Justice practitioner. Rami was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon but moved to the United States in 2018 to escape the criminalization of homosexuality in his home country, and to pursue a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of New Haven. Rami recently joined Georgia Justice Project (GJP) as the organization’s first Restorative Justice Program Manager. In his role, Rami supports GJP in efforts to build Georgia’s first restorative justice program taking referrals of felony cases involving adults, or youth who are tried as adults. The program, Restorative Justice Georgia, is partnering with local District Attorney offices in the Metro Atlanta area. Before his role at GJP, Rami facilitated adult and juvenile violent crime Restorative Conferences and Victim Offender Dialogues in Colorado. Additionally, Rami is the founder of the Restorative Rainbow Alliance, an Alliance which aims to introduce a LGBTQ+ lens into the field of Restorative Justice by providing extra care for LGBTQ+ victims of hate crimes and assisting facilitators in understanding the extra levels of harm that LGBTQ+ individuals may face, as well as creating virtual safe spaces. Rami is also the founder of The Space, a LGBTQ+ youth safe space in Colorado that utilizes Restorative Circles to assess the needs of LGBTQ+ youth in the Region. The Space was funded by the State of Colorado’s Restorative Justice Council.

Jasmyn Story is an international Restorative Justice Facilitator, Doula, and the founder of Honeycomb Justice and Freedom Farm Azul. Named one of Vice’s 31 People Making History by Creating a Better Future, they are a dedicated human rights activist with a decade of experience working in the voluntary sector. As the former Deputy Director of Social Justice & Racial Equity for the Office of the Mayor of Birmingham, Jasmyn co-led the launch of the State of Alabama’s first government-sustained Women’s Initiative. This decentralized movement aims to interrupt the cycles of harm plaguing Birmingham’s women, children, trans, and non-binary folk. After completing their M.A. in Human Rights at the University College London, they are currently completing their Ph.D. as a third-generation Tuskegee University student. Today, they serve the national office of the Sierra Club as the Conflict Transformation Strategic Advisor.

This project is supported by Grants No. 2020-MU-CX-K001 and No. 15PBJA-20-GK-00035 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view, images, or opinions in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.