138. Respect is Contagious: Restorative Justice with Judge Victoria Pratt

Here's Where It Gets Interesting

Sharon McMahon

Government, History, Storytelling, Education

4.9 • 15.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Sharon has a conversation with Judge Victoria Pratt, who’s new book, The Power of Dignity, looks at the ways in which respect in the justice system needs to go both ways. She shares her belief that we have a moral and professional obligation to look our for our neighbors; the whole community benefits when everyone is living their lives to their best and fullest potential. In the courtroom, when people are treated with dignity and respect, it increases their trust in the justice system and bolsters the authority of the people who uphold it. To increase public trust in our justice system, we must allow people to have a voice in the process, give them time to speak, ensure that the court process is neutral, and, above all, look people in the eye. Respect is contagious: everyone in court is impacted by how they are treated by those in positions of authority.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello friends! I am so excited to have you here today because I am sharing a
0:06.2	conversation with Judge Victoria Pratt who has a very unique perspective on
0:11.8	something called restorative justice and the power of dignity. I think you're
0:18.0	gonna get so much out of this conversation so let's dive in! I'm Sharon
0:23.2	McBan and welcome to the Sharon Says So podcast. I am very excited to be
0:30.2	chatting today with Judge Victoria Pratt. Thank you so much for coming. Thank
0:34.8	you so much for having me. I like to say that sometimes the judge is not
0:38.3	invited to the party so thank you for inviting me. I like having a judge at the
0:42.7	party so it's fun to have you here. I would love to have you give everybody just a
0:46.9	little bit of a background of first of all how did you even get to be a judge?
0:51.5	So I was serving as the attorney to the council president and the city of
0:57.6	Newark when the now senator Cory Booker but then Mayor Cory Booker
1:02.4	administration had come in and I was working for the council president and I
1:07.1	would sit in these council meetings and see these people become new judges and
1:12.0	I remember thinking what an awesome opportunity to really impact someone's
1:17.9	life which is at first level of court which is where most people will interact
1:23.9	with the justice system but to really have an opportunity to transform their
1:28.8	lives and speak potential into their lives and so I had a conversation with the
1:34.8	mayor and I said you know I really would like to serve there. My approach so
1:40.5	much comes from watching my mother who was a petition in the city of Newark
1:45.1	for 20-some odd years and it's always amazing how you know you're like oh I'll
1:49.9	never become my parent and then that moment comes is your life. Oh my god I'm
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sharon McMahon, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Sharon McMahon and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.