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After 'painfully slow' start, restorative justice program tries to reset

Paul Cuno-Booth

July 17, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cheshire County, New Hampshire

The Cheshire County Restorative Justice Program works to take low-level defendants, accused of things like shoplifting or alcohol violations out of court and into an alternative process, sparing them criminal records that would later weigh them down. The program’s goal is to push the legal system toward restorative justice, reimagining its traditional processes.

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What Do Police Know About Teenagers? Not Enough.

Meryl Davids Landau

July 17, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Lafayette, Indiana

"Policing the teen brain" is a training regimen devised by Strategies for Youth that teaches police officers to de-escalate conflicts with adolescents to avoid unnecessary incarceration. Youth detention has dropped significantly since Tippecanoe County put most of its officers through the training. Police learn how to account for teens' lowered impulse control and undeveloped problem solving skills. The county decided to pay for the expensive training because detention, which hits Black youth hardest, can be even more costly – and leave lasting damage in the lives of young people.

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Keeping People Out of Jail Keeps People Out of Jail

David Byrne

July 12, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

When prosecutors in Boston and Baltimore stopped prosecuting certain non-violent, minor offenses, crime of all sorts, from minor to violent, went down. Getting prosecuted and jailed can in itself increase the probability that people will get in more trouble. When their mistakes are not compounded by an arrest record that limits their job and housing prospects, they are apt to stay out of trouble. The prosecutors and research found that simply excluding cases of non-violent, minor drug possession, disorderly conduct, shoplifting from the system does not encourage more crime; probably the opposite.

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Some youth avoid detention and rehabilitate at Central Oregon ranch

Dave Miller Allison Frost

July 09, 2021 |

Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) |

Radio Talk Show |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Bend, Oregon

Youth in Oregon who get court-ordered rehabilitation as an alternative to youth detention might end up at the J Bar J Ranch, which despite its name is less a working ranch than a boarding school with individual counseling aimed at helping troubled young people change themselves. Success takes many forms – high school diplomas, reconnecting with family, setting and meeting personal goals – but first the youth must earn a place at the ranch, which can only take 28 at a time.

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Two KCK schools shifting focus from punishment to make schools safer, reduce suspensions

Maria Benevento

July 02, 2021 |

The Kansas City Beacon |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Kansas

Restorative discipline in classrooms is allowing students to focus on building relationships and repairing harm instead of suffering punishments. The practice prioritizes communication in an effort to emphasize community as well as reduce suspensions. The technique has had proven success in other schools, resulting in dramatic decreases in safety offenses.

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Police Reform: Federal monitor

John Glidden

June 30, 2021 |

Local News Matters |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

With a long string of questionable uses of force and huge payouts to settle brutality lawsuits, the Vallejo Police Department might look to nearby Oakland for one approach to achieving better, more accountable policing: a court-appointed monitor. In Oakland, a monitor since 2003 has had the authority of a judge's order behind him as he and a staff oversee the city's use of force, handling of complaints, training, and other operations. The costly process is not without critics, nor is the Oakland department trouble-free. But some see the monitor as a force for positive change after a period of corruption.

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The career where it helps to have a criminal past

Jo Mathys

June 29, 2021 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

All people between the ages of 14 and 21 in Washington, D.C., who are placed on probation for criminal convictions get assigned a probation officer, social worker, and a "credible messenger" – a mentor, usually with his or her own criminal past, who is paid by the city Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services to help ensure a successful probationary period. The cost is far lower than youth detention and is associated with a much lower rate of re-offending. The work is so intense that the highly trained messengers often need their own counseling to cope with the stress of turning lives around.

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How Kitimat B.C. is catching its breath

Anna Lamb-Yorski

June 16, 2021 |

Living Here |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Kitimat, British Columbia

A new aluminum plant in British Columbia would have ended up putting more sulphur dioxide into the air, but the Kitimat Terrace Clean Air Coalition (KTCAC) helped bring this to light and encourage them to install air monitoring stations. They wrote letters to the government and took the company to court. As a result of their efforts, three air monitoring stations were installed to measure the particulate matter and alert residents if levels increased. “Industry and government are listening to people who are concerned in Kitimat,” says Steve Stannus, a founder of KTCAC.

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Community-led alternative to criminal justice resolves conflict, fosters community and protects youth

Constance Garcia-Barrio

May 23, 2021 |

Grid Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Restorative justice healing circles run by Cookman Beloved Community Baptist Church in West Philadelphia have helped resolve hundreds of disputes among youth over the past 15 years using dialogue instead of courts. Bringing together people who were harmed, those who harmed them, and members of the community leads to negotiated agreements that provide justice and reconciliation without leaving young people with a criminal record. Restorative-justice approaches to school discipline in Philadelphia have dropped the numbers of arrests from 1,600 to 384 per year.

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Santa Barbara County Looks to Yolo County for Criminal Justice Reform

Katherine Swartz

May 16, 2021 |

Santa Barbara Independent |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Woodland, California

By turning over its criminal justice data to Measures for Justice, a nonprofit developer that turns raw data into publicly available reports, the Yolo County district attorney has a much better grasp on the work that it has been doing. Better data mean better-informed decisions about criminal justice reforms. The investment in the new system is prompting policy changes because of racial disparities showing up in the numbers. And that is prompting many other DAs to clamor for the same kind of system.

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