Why Just Stories? Why Now?

Derek Miodownik works for Vermont’s Department of Corrections as the Community and Restorative Justice Executive. He joins Just Stories to trace how improv theater led him to mediation and a youth court experiment in Red Hook, Brooklyn; how Vermont wrote restorative justice into state policy; and what reparative boards and Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) actually look like in practice. He then sits with the hardest question: what do you do with harms that can’t be undone?GuestDerek MiodownikCommunity & Restorative Justice Executive for the Vermont Department of Corrections. CreditsHost: Rob Brenneman Senior Producer: Yebu JiSound Engineering: Alex DuggerBackground Research: Alaina WolfeMarketing Manager: Melissa TroyerAudience Engagement Manager: Courtney DobrzykowskiDirected by: Duane StoltzfusMusicTheme Music: Umbilical Moonrise by LotusSuzanne by Leonard_Cohen Deep Krawlen from Blue Dot SessionsDolomite from Blue Dot SessionsStrickland from Blue Dot SessionsBurham Street from Blue Dot SessionsA Palace of Cedar from Blue Dot SessionsLinksRed Hook Community Justice Center Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) and Restorative JusticeInside Vermont’s Radical Approach to Helping the Formerly Incarcerated SucceedThese Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home by Bayo Akomolafe Coming Home Directed by Bess O’BrienSocial mediaWebsite: juststoriespodcast.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastjuststories/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastjuststoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/just-stories-podcast

What if justice meant sitting in a room with the person who harmed you? Howard Zehr has spent five decades asking that question.Howard Zehr has been called the grandfather of restorative justice, a title he accepts with some amusement. In this conversation, he traces a path that began with a single year at Goshen College in 1962, a dining-table conversation with a civil rights leader who had worked alongside Dr. King, and a lecture that gave him what he came to call the gap principle: do the work no one else is doing. That principle took him to Morehouse College, to Talladega, and eventually back to Elkhart, Indiana, where he reluctantly joined an experiment bringing burglary victims face to face with the people who had broken into their homes. He talks about where the term restorative justice actually came from, what he learned about justice from traveling across the globe. Also his decades photographing people serving life sentences, why trauma destroys a person’s story, and why recovery means building a new one.Access more episodes: juststoriespodcast.org GuestHoward Zehr Bio Howard Zehr is widely known as the grandfather of restorative justice. He began as a practitioner and theorist in the late 1970s, at the field’s foundational stage, and has since led events in more than 25 countries and 35 states, with particular impact in New Zealand, whose juvenile justice system was restructured around a family-focused, restorative approach. A writer, educator, and photojournalist, he was an early advocate for placing victims’needs at the center of restorative practice. He has taught more than a thousand practitioners, many now leading their own organizations, and in 2013 co-founded the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice.CreditsHost: Regina Shands StoltzfusSenior Producer: Yebu JiSound Engineering: Alex DuggerBackground Research: Alaina WolfeMarketing Manager: Melissa TroyerAudience Engagement Manager: Courtney DobrzykowskiDirected by: Duane StoltzfusTape Sync: Tobias Tate MusicTheme Music: Umbilical Moonrise by LotusCapocollo Theme from Dot SessionsEleven Count from Blue Dot SessionsLiptis from Blue Dot SessionsCheap Red by Blue Dot SessionsJust Stories is a collaboration of the Religion, Justice and Society Department and the Communications Department at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, part of the More Than Just Stories project, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.

We live in a messy world where relationships go south, and people hurt each other, sometimes violently. The criminal justice system is meant to answer that harm. But what happens inside the mind and heart of the person handing down the sentences?Judge Kristine Osterday took an unlikely road to the bench: a first-generation college student from a blue-collar family, who followed what she calls “a call she was smart enough not to get in the way of." In this conversation with host Rob Brenneman, she speaks candidly about faith and vocation, why she's passionate about presiding over one of the hardest dockets: domestic violence, and where she believes the justice system, faith communities, and the rest of us are still falling short.Access more episodes: juststoriespodcast.org GuestKristine A. Osterday: Judge of Elkhart County’s Superior Court 1.Since 2018, Hon. Kristine A. Osterday (B.S. ’01) has served as a judge for the Elkhart County Superior Court. Born in Valparaiso, she grew up in Elkhart County and attended Northridge High School. She is a graduate of IU South Bend and Valparaiso School of Law.Timecode00:00 Intro02:00 An unlikely path to the bench 06:00 Amish country, RVs, and the 80/90 corridor 08:30 Inside the domestic violence docket 13:00 Plea deals and the limits of the system 17:00 The complicated reality for survivors 20:30 Restorative justice and power imbalance 24:30 When faith communities look away 27:00 A magic wand and the Ten Commandments 31:30 Don't make us feel like SisyphusCreditsHost: Rob BrennemanSenior Producer: Yebu JiSound Engineering: Grant Bachman & Alex DuggerBackground Research: Alaina WolfeIllustrator: Senna DuanMarketing Manager: Melissa TroyerAudience Engagement Manager: Courtney DobrzykowskiDirected by: Duane StoltzfusMusicTheme: Umbilical Moonrise by LotusBig River Run from Blue Dot SessionsEleven Count from Blue Dot SessionsJust Stories is a collaboration of the Religion, Justice and Society Department and the Communications Department at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, part of the More Than Just Stories project, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.LinksElkhart Superior Court No. 1: https://elkhartcounty.com/en/government/courts/National Domestic Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org · 1-800-799-7233Social mediaWebsite: juststoriespodcast.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastjuststories/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastjuststoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/just-stories-podcast

What does justice really mean, and how does faith shape our response to injustice? In this debut episode of Just Stories, hosts Rob Brenneman and Regina Shands Stoltzfus share the experiences that shaped their work, from Central America and refugee camps to classrooms and local jails. Through honest stories about faith, dignity, and our shared humanity, they explore how listening can become the first step toward justice.Learn more at: juststoriespodcast.orgCreditsHost: Rob Brenneman & Regina Shands Stoltzfus Senior Producer: Yebu JiSound Engineering: Alex DuggerResearch Assistance: Alaina WolfeIllustrator: Senna DuanMarketing Manager: Melissa TroyerAudience Engagement Manager: Courtney DobrzykowskiDirected by: Duane StoltzfusMusicTheme Music: Umbilical Moonrise by LotusMint Martini by Blue Dot SessionsLiptis by Blue Dot SessionsBasic Curiosity by Blue Dot SessionsDriptape by Blue Dot SessionsCheap Red by Blue Dot SessionsCloud Cannon by Blue Dot SessionsJust Stories is a collaboration of the Religion, Justice and Society Department and the Communication Department at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, part of the More Than Just Stories project, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.LinksRegina’s Published Works: Resistance, Resilience, and Radical Love: Reflections on Blackness and Teaching Peace, Tehom Center Publishing, 2025.Been in the Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality, Herald Press, 2021. (co-authored with Tobin Miller Shearer) Rob’s Published Works: Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America"Organized Crime, Disorganized Responses: New Research on Gangs and Organized Crime in Latin America," Building Faith: A Sociology of Religious Structures Rob’s Personal Website

Just Stories is a podcast about the places where justice and faith intersect, and sometimes collide. Season 1 launches September 24th, with new episodes every other Thursday. Follow now so you don't miss the first one.