Speaking on the Healing with David Kessler podcast last week, the actor Ashley Judd explained she had met the man who raped her 23 years ago, and they “had a restorative justice conversation” about the assault. “I didn’t need anything from him,” Judd said. “It was just gravy that he made his amends and expressed his deep remorse, because healing from grief is an inside job.”
The practice of restorative justice is ostensibly simple. Usually there is a meeting involving the victim, the offender and a mediator, with the victim recounting their story and explaining the impact the crime had on them. The aim is twofold. The first is to make the offender confront the damage they have inflicted and begin to grapple with the
