Does the criminal justice system actually help victims and offenders? What does justice look like for those who have been harmed? For those who have done harm? Twenty-five years after it was first published, Changing Lenses by Howard Zehr remains the classic text of the restorative justice field.

Now with valuable author updates on the changing landscape of restorative justice and a new section of resources for practitioners and teachers, Changing Lenses offers a framework for understanding crime, injury, accountability, and healing from a restorative perspective.

Uncovering widespread assumptions about crime, the courts, retributive justice, and the legal process, Changing Lenses offers provocative new paradigms and proven alternatives for public policy and judicial reform.

What’s New in the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition:

• Author updates of terminology, paradigms, and recommended reading

• Foreword by restorative justice practitioner Sujatha Baliga

• New resources for teachers, facilitators, and practitioners

“This book will change how you think about wrongdoing and justice and mercy.”—Leymah Gbowee, winner of 2011 Nobel Peace Prize

“Maybe one day we’ll integrate some of the principles of civil law into criminal justice, as Howard Zehr advises in his book Changing Lenses.”—Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., in Dead Man Walking

“This book calls for a rethinking of crime and justice and offers a bold new direction. Readers should be aware, however, that it isn’t a handy little volume with simplistic assessments and catchy slogans. The author challenges the definitions and assumptions that color our thinking and shape public policy on crime and justice.”—CBA Marketplace

“If you read only one thing on crime and justice issues, read this. If you plan to read nothing on crime and justice . . . then change your mind and read this. I have a shelf of books on these issues but this is my favorite.”—Arthur P. Boers, associate professor of pastoral theology, Tyndale Seminary

“This book will get you thinking in new ways. It’s the best book on criminal justice I have ever read. Profound and thoughtful, yet written in plain language.”—Jim Mustin, founder, Family and Corrections Network

“A needed book with many suggestions for moving toward a more just criminal system.”—National Catholic Reporter