ABSTRACT
Restorative justice is a response to crime focused on repairing victims’ losses and encouraging offenders to take responsibility for their actions. It also helps schools build bridges between federal and state authorities and school communities when making decisions regarding risk and crisis communication, and, in turn, prevents or minimizes further infractions. Restorative justice can be woven into current risk and crisis theory and practice to help minimize the peril of shootings, nevertheless increasing the ability to deal with such crises when they come about. Although school safety and discipline policies were intended to deter infractions by threatening extreme punishment and protecting schools, all too frequently strong crisis communication efforts failed. No matter how restorative a school or community’s justice system might be, as is all too apparent, the most heinous of all violent school crises, murder, can still become a reality.
