Webinar: Making Manna: A story about the failings of the justice system and a victim’s efforts to heal

A girl is sexually abused by her father, and runs away. “Never again!” she yells as she slams the door. Now she’s on her own. Obviously she needs to survive.— But she also needs to heal her wounds and come to terms with the family she left behind.

Author Eric Lotke discusses his new novel, Making Manna, and how the girl intuits her way to a restorative justice response. Lotke will discuss how the justice system failed this victim, and how he used Restorative Justice to figure out what she would need to make herself whole. He will discuss his decision to show RJ as a manifestation of basic human impulses and needs, independent of any formal RJ process.

Guest Bio

Eric Lotke has cooked in five star restaurants and flushed every toilet in the Washington DC jail. His legal advocacy includes groundbreaking litigation against private prison companies and the high cost of prison phone calls. He has helped manage treatment programs for victims and perpetrators of serious crimes, and to reduce violence in DC public schools. His Soros Justice Fellowship on where the U.S. Census Bureau counts people in prison has led to changes in four states so far. More recently he has worked with labor unions to organize fast food strikes and stop the privatization of public goods. Eric Lotke’s books include Making Manna, The Real War on Crime, and 2044: The Problem isn’t Big Brother, it’s Big Brother, Inc. More is at ericlotke.com.