User:Mmariner14/sandbox

Judicial affairs or student conduct offices enforce community standards and campus codes of conduct, which may include ethical and legal programs/education, mediation for academic and behavioral student concerns, and referrals and collaboration with outside police agencies. The general accepted practise for student conduct has evolved over time from a system which placed priority on punitive responses, to one which emphasizes learning, development and restorative approaches. A 2014 study by Karp and Sacks identified six developmental goals for college students aged 18-22 to be achieved throughout the conduct process: 1) Just Community/Self-Authorship, 2) Active Accountability, 3) Interpersonal Competence, 4) Social Ties to Institution, 5) Procedural Fairness, and 6) Closure. They found that a restorative and developmental approach to conduct allowed for these learning goals to be met more frequently and consistently, compared to traditional punitive styles. It is becoming widely accepted within the conduct administration field that taking a developmental approach to behavioural concerns decreases the recidivism rates among students and allows students to focus on the harms that have been caused, rather than simply the rule that was broken. With this being said, this is not to completely discount the traditional or 'code' style approach to conduct, which is still effective when a student does not take responsibility for their actions or identify the harms and impacts that their behaviour has caused.

Regardless of the approach taken, in most cases, student learning happens throughout the conduct process. Whether this be express new knowledge of department or institutional policy and expectations, or more introspective moral development and reflection, the goal for any judicial affairs or student conduct officer is to promote learning and development for each student they engage with.