Interview with Ed Minardo and Betty Reinhart

by Ellie Gosling, Volunteer

My name is Ellie Gosling and I am a senior at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. I was introduced to restorative justice through both my psychology and philosophy majors. After creating the connection across disciplines, I decided to write an honors thesis on abolishing prisons and implementing restorative justice as an alternative to incarceration. Post graduation I plan to learn more about the practice of restorative justice and work to further it as a viable alternative to the prison system. Through this interest I was able to connect with PiRI.

I got the chance to talk with both Ed Minardo and Betty Reinhart a couple weeks ago to hear their stories. One of the most intriguing parts of restorative practices is the multiple areas of life it can be applied and how creative people can get when using it. Ed comes from a criminal justice background while Betty did important work with elementary students.

Ed recently retired from the Board of Directors at PiRI. His time at PiRI and his outstanding career in criminal justice will outlast him because of the sacrifices he has made to promote restorative justice and continue programs that he knows will “make the community a better place.” In 2005, Ed joined Genesee Justice, a program aimed to provide a more ethical and economically cheaper alternative to the tired and punitive current incarceration system. However, in 2010, Genesee Justice was faced with the possibility of abolishment. This time was bittersweet for Ed. The community, and all those the program proved itself to, fought back, and the project remained, but it came at the cost of his job. He made the decision to seize the rare opportunity to put his “heart above wallet and ethics above all,” and stepped down to allow for his salary to go towards funding. Ed has a unique view on the strengths of restorative practices because of the
multiple perspectives he has worked with over his lengthy career. Due to the plethora of interesting anecdotal experiences from all aspects of the justice system, he is able to overcome the rigidity the the justice system normally promotes and instead has adopted a non-binary and holistic view of what justice is.

Betty, the longest standing employee of PiRI, comes from an entirely different path with restorative practices. For almost forty years she worked as a counselor in schools advocating for “culturally proactive classrooms.” Proactive classrooms would allow students to feel a connection to a community that they are a part of each day. More classroom connection allows for less counseling individually, and it naturally promotes restorative practices in the form of academic and family circles between the teacher and students. She truly understands the importance of systematic change when it comes to improving schools. She has seen firsthand the transformation that has occurred for schools when they address their code of conduct using restorative principles to guide the changes.

While it is evident that restorative practices have expansive diverse applications, both Betty and Ed have run into and identified similar hurdles to enacting restorative practices. First and foremost, there is just a basic misunderstanding about the worldview that restorative practices hold. It is important to get the message across that accountability is still held, but instead of just looking at intent, look at individuals as people in a context.

Second, the community and those participating have to buy into the process. Ed emphasized the need to “stimulate individual thought” to allow for creative and fresher solutions, and in order to do so, people need to be excited to learn and make time to learn. PiRI is full of “experts who know about a process that helps bring better selves out” and should continue to transform alongside the organizations they work with because it is one of those programs that is making the community a better place.