Zehr wins prestigious award

Courtesy EMU website

Professor of Sociology and Restorative Justice Howard Zehr

Howard Zehr should probably have seen it coming.

The EMU professor of Sociology and Restorative Justice is widely considered a pioneer in his field, and his life's work was recently honored by the Prison Fellowship International (PFI) Centre for Justice with the first "International Prize for Restorative Justice."

Zehr directed the first victim-offender reconciliation program in the U.S. during the 1970s and has since made restorative justice his life's work, as he has written a number of books and is an international speaker.

Zehr was one of 24 nominees for the $5,000 award offered by the PFI, an organization that is involved with prison ministries in over 100 countries world-wide. "I feel very honored," said Zehr, "but also a bit chagrined as there are so many people making a contribution to the field. I have been particularly concerned that women and people of color be recognized - us old white guys tend to get too much credit."

Zehr has been on the EMU faculty since 1996, and is the co-director of Conflict Transformation Program (CTP). The CTP was established at EMU in 1994, and builds on the university's Mennonite traditions of nonviolence and service. Its purpose as described in its philosophy is "to support the personal and professional development of individuals as peace-builders."

CTP also encourages international peace-building efforts, of which Zehr said, "As I travel, I find that CTP is widely known internationally for its pioneering, value-based approach. It's an honor to be part of it." As an expert in the peace-building field, Zehr was called to assist attorneys of the Oklahoma City bombing case in the area of victim relations. He assisted in the development of a program that arranged visits between the survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and the U.S. embassy bombing in Kenya.

Zehr has written several books, including Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, which has become a standard in the restorative peace field. More recently, his book Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims, which was called "essential reading," by Tom Kennedy of the Washington Post.

The list of Zehr's achievements are indeed what won him the distinguished award from the PFI, as he was told when he heard that he had received that honor. Zehr said that he "...questioned the person who called to tell me about the award; he said that there had been much debate, but felt that to establish the credibility of the award, it made more sense to give it to [Zehr] the first time, then reach out after that."