A New Mind: Spiritual Healing and Restorative Justice

Anuar Velazquez and Jerry Elster sat down with our host, Martin Friedman, to share their thoughts on restorative justice in the American prison system. Anuar is a former police officer and Jerry was formerly incarcerated. Jerry begins by sharing that restorative justice started within himself and progressed into building, maintaining, establishing, and mending relationships. Jerry realized that he brought harm to his community when he committed his crime, and that was a relationship he needed to mend to heal. Anuar also thinks relationships are crucial to restore justice in America’s criminal justice system. When Anuar was a police officer he felt like he was participating in restorative justice the most when he was building relationships in the communities he grew up in. The three men go on to discuss how restorative justice is reconnecting with humanity. We are socialized to believe that our titles are more important than our vulnerability and honesty. Jerry shares how he judged everyone in the justice system by their title and this caused him to realize he didn’t have the ability to see the humanity in others. To build and maintain relationships within our communities we must learn to look beyond labels, titles, and identities.

Show Notes 

2:14 Jerry Elster shares his experience in the criminal justice system5:19 Jerry shares how looking within himself changed his view on restorative justice8:37 Anuar talks about his relationship with restorative justice as a former police officer11:19 Martin shares his thoughts on restorative justice as a racial equity worker15:08 Jerry reacts to Anuar and Martin’s definitions of restorative justice17:50 Anuar talks about how restorative justice also restores humanity 19:12 Martin asks Anuar and Jerry to share how to be accountable when restoring justice29:44 Martin talks about how society has to take accountability in restorative justice33:35 Jerry talks about taking accountability in patriarchy37:30 Anuar explores how accountability can be weaponized in restorative justice41:19 Martin and Anuar explore how we shape our own reality 42:39 Jerry talks about how we avoid responsibility in restorative justice work46:29 Anuar explains how we can all find a place of connection

The Soul Focused Group is a leadership development company for organizations that want to build stronger connections and create lasting solutions.

More from The Soul Focused Group here:
https://www.soulfocusedgroup.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheSoulFocusedGroup/
https://www.instagram.com/theSoulFocusedGroup/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-soul-focused-group

Learn why healing toxic groundwater is so important by reading our new book!
https://soulfocusedgroup.com/healing-toxic-groundwater/

Learn about subconscious programming by signing up for our FREE eBook today!
https://soulfocusedgroup.com/living-as-part-of-the-solution/

Check out our FREE monthly virtual event!
https://soulfocusedgroup.com/power-for-liberation/