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Date:
June 2005 -
(Download PDF Version)
Topic:
Restorative Justice Model
Question:
Are any Teen/Youth Courts incorporating the Restorative Justice
Model into their program? I'm interested in details of how it
has been integrated and any feedback on how youth/volunteers
have responded. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Responses
from
Coordinators:
Beth DeHart
LRE Manager
SC Youth Court Association
SC Bar - LRE
950 Taylor Street
P.O. Box 608
Columbia, SC 29202-0608
Phone: 803-252-5139 Fax: 803-799-4118
Email:
beth.dehart@scbar.org
Restorative Justice is the foundation of every SC youth
court. I would write a thesis if I explained everything we
do with the concept, so I will offer to explain as much as I
can over the telephone if you wouldn't mind asking the
person who posed the question to give me a call.
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Pennington County Teen Court
Michele Brink-Gluhosky
Teen Court Coordinator
Pennington County State's Attorney's Office
300 Kansas City Street
Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: 605-394-2531 Fax: 605-394-2616
Email:
michellebg@co.pennington.sd.us
I do all of my training around it. I copied a chart from the
ABA Training Package and added color and couple of clip art
pictures to it and put in a 36" x 24" foam board. I have it
displayed in Jury Room and take it with me when we do mock
trials. I also did the same for the 7 Step Jury Deliberation
Process. In the jury room, the jury foreperson has to use a
verdict worksheet similar to the one from the Getting the
Most of the Deliberation Process that looks primarily at
repairing harm. We also have a Center for Restorative
Justice that does Victim/Offender Mediations that we refer
to - plus I am a volunteer mediator for the program so I am
able to do some of them. Almost every single defendant has
to do at least one apology as a condition of their sentence
and something related to building one of their strengths.
It's always a challenge to get kids on the jury and other
volunteers to stay consistent with but we try to not use the
word "punishment" in the Teen Court. Parents love it -
because they get apologies and the jury really considers
their child's competencies. If you want a copy of the sheet
I put on foam board or any other info, just let me know.
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Placer County Peer Court
Karen Green
Peer Court Coordinator
671 Newcastle Road., Suite 7
Newcastle, CA 95658
Phone: 916-663-9227 Ext. 2# Fax: 916-663-2965
Email:
placerpeercourt@aol.com
Website:
www.peercourt.com
Placer Peer Court incorporates restorative justice on
several levels. All cases when they go to the jury must have
a box on the verdict form checked yes or no for mediation
with the victim. We use a professional mediation service
that serves the county and has trained some of our teens in
a 25 hour training that allows for a teen to sit on the
mediation team for all peer court cases that go to
mediation. In addition at many of the schools we work with
there are peer counselors and we send the names of the
defendants from that school to the peer counselor advisor if
appropriate for support for the defendant to be reintegrated
into the school population or to have a peer connection if
there are other issues that the defendant might need help
with. The Peer Court coordinator is in close contact with
school administrators and can converse with them if she
feels it would benefit the defendant. All of our community
service sites have a very positive attitude to the
defendants who come to do community service at their sites
and treat the defendant with respect and often have
opportunity to help the defendant reflect on what they have
learned.
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Chicago
Policy Peer Jury Programs
Clifton Underwood
Peer Jury Coordinator
Chicago Police Dept.
3510 S. Michigan, Room 4081
Chicago, IL 60653
Phone: 312-745-5607 Fax: 312-745-6832
Email:
clifton.underwood@chicagopolice.org
In Chicago, we use one of the major components of
restorative justice. This is to give back to the community
where the harm originated. This is often implemented through
apology letters or sometimes just reversing the incident to
satisfy the victim. For an example, let's use graffiti. The
jurors in this case ordered the minor to remove the graffiti
from a business wall. This was accompanied with a letter of
apology outlining harm to the community in which he lives.
Victims are invited to attend the hearings, but rarely
appear.
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Janelle M. Cleary
Director
New York State Community
Justice Forum
New York State Council on
Children and Families
5 Empire State Plaza - Suite
2810
Albany, NY 12223
Phone: 518 473 9638
Fax: 518 473 2570
Email:
Janelle.cleary@ccf.state.ny.us
Website:
www.nyscommunityjusticeforum.org
In New York, there have
been several Youth Courts that have implemented some
restorative justice principles and practices into what
they do.
One that comes to mind is
the Colonie Youth Court. I know that one of the Board
members, also a Restorative Justice trainer, has created
a power point presentation, and I have her permission to
send it along if there is an interest.
If not, I will summarize
some of what was done to integrate the use of RJ
principles and practices into youth court:
Restorative Practices
for Youth Courts:
Conferencing
Community/Neighborhood/Accountability/ Reparative
Boards
Circles (sentencing,
healing)
Apologies (written or oral)
$$$ Restitution or
Reparation
Victim Impact Panels/Victim
Awareness Education
Victim/Offender dialogue
Community Service:
Direct to victim
Indirect to surrogate victim
Meaningful to the community
and the victim
Chosen by the victim
Builds competencies for
offenders
Victim Advocate Role
in Youth Court:
Provide information TO/FROM
victim during all phases of Youth Court
Either read Victim Impact
Statement or testify on behalf of a victim, if requested
Advise victim of Youth Court
case outcome and results of sentence
Accompany victim to Youth
Court
Please contact me if you
would like the full power point presentation.
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