method · all tools
Restorative Circles
A community process for conflict developed by Dominic Barter with residents of Rio's favelas: those who acted, those affected, and their community meet in facilitated circles — pre-circles first, then the circle itself — where each hears the others until mutual understanding is reached, and together they agree acts that restore. Justice as repair of relationship, held by the community itself.
Prerequisites
- All parties come voluntarily; pre-circles establish willingness and safety before anyone meets
- Facilitator trained in the method and not a party to the conflict
- Real harm is in the room by definition — this is a justice process, not a team exercise; never compress it into a workshop slot
- Where power differences are extreme or abuse is active, restorative process can retraumatize — screen honestly
Practical
- Time
- 90-180 min + 60 landing
- Group
- 3–30 · small-group, large-group
- Settings
- in-person
- Materials
- Pre-circles with each party; agreed community context; follow-up plan
- Mechanisms
- dialogic-encounter, emotional-processing, ritual-container
- Change scope
- state → capacity · one-off
Origin & where it lives
Dominic Barter and communities in Rio de Janeiro (mid-1990s) — Restorative justice; roots in Indigenous restorative practice; NVC-adjacent
Restorative circle forms descend from Indigenous justice traditions worldwide; Barter's system names this debt. The community-ownership principle is core: facilitators serve the process, communities own it.
Instructions: open online
In this directory via HostingTransformation Methods ToolBox
Related: restorative dialogue (deepens)
One of only a handful of practices anywhere that targets the revised framework's Forgiveness (R5) head-on — transcending hostility and creating space for healing is its literal job description.
status: checked · added 2026-08-25