Jennifer Jean Langdon - Dispute, Harm, Crime, and Conflict: Narrative Positioning in Justice Practice
Master of Public Health: Global Health, George Mason University
Bachelor of Arts: Integrative Studies/Health Education, Minor: Psychology, George Mason University
Ph.D., Philosophy, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
M.A., Philosophy, State University of New York at Binghamton
BS, Sociology, 1969, Oregon State University
MEd, Psychological Foundations of Education, 1971 , University of Florida, Certification to teach psychology at community colleges
![]() |
This dissertation describes the changing discourse surrounding conflict resolution as justice-practice. By redefining crime in various ways - as disputes, harms, and conflicts - conflict resolution and restorative justice practitioners construct alternative narratives of crime. Positioning theory is used as a tool to analyze practitioner narratives of community mediation, victim offender mediation and community conferencing practice. These alternative practices are understood as primarily discursive interventions, providing participants with narrative agency to recreate their identities in the aftermath of wrongdoing. Thus the malignant positioning of offender and victims inherent in criminal court processing is counteracted. .
Dissertation Committee:
Sandra Cheldelin, Ed.D., Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution
Devon Johnson, Ph.D., School of Public Policy, GMU