S2, Episode 5: Bias, Decision-Making, & Risk w/Seth Lennon Nguyen-Weiner & Richard Cruz

The Restorative Lens

Around the United States, restorative justice programs establish different criteria for eligibility for restorative justice including the age of the responsible party, the willingness of the harmed party for the case to go through restorative justice, the type of offense, prior record, and more. There is also an extensive range of subjective measures that decision-makers responsible for referrals to restorative justice programs weigh in considering suitability. These factors and more can create significant inequity in access to restorative justice. This episode explores the issue of inequitable access to restorative justice and potential solutions. Seth Lennon Nguyen-Weiner is a husband and father of 3 small children. He has been a restorative justice enthusiast for nearly 20 years now. He is a lawyer by training, having graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles where he was taught by the visionary law professor Scott Wood. He co-founded the Loyola Restorative Justice Project with Professor Wood, which today operates as a program of the Center for Urban Resilience at Loyola Marymount University. Today, he is honored to work full-time with the Life Comes From It philanthropy circle alongside many incredible practitioners and organizations. He is also a graduate of the Community Studies program at UC Santa Cruz and the Consciousness Studies program at Rudolf Steiner College. He lives in Weehawken, New Jersey. Richard Cruz has been with the Ahimsa Collective since 2018. He is native and his relations are through his mother (Georgia) Assiniboine Sioux, Nakota, and Arapaho. He also has an American college education and has earned Certifications as a Substance Abuse Treatment Counselor and Communications Technician. He currently holds a position as the Co-Executive Director. He believes in celebrating our differences and new experiences and healing our communities and history. He lives in the Bay Area of California.