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Ashley, Jessica and Gray, Donyelle L and Newman, Peter and Gray, Donyelle L and Covey, Sharon and Newman, Peter. Spotlight on The Future of BARJ Reform for Illinois: A Vision for the Future

abstract pendingThis article summarizes a longer piece – “Implementing Balanced and Restorative Justice: The Illinois Experience‿ - written by the authors listed above for the Loyola Law Journal. In 1889 Illinois established the first juvenile court. One hundred years later, Illinois adopted the balanced and restorative justice approach in its Juvenile Court Act and initiated a new reform of its juvenile justice system. The authors provide background to the adoption of this approach in Illinois, explain key aspects of BARJ, and identify important questions that must be addressed for the long-term success of the Illinois BARJ initiative.

Bazemore, Gordon and Day, Susan E. Restoring the Balance: Juvenile and Community Justice

From the perspective of restorative justice, the most significant aspect of crime is that it victimizes citizens and communities. The justice system should focus on repairing this harm by ensuring that offenders are held accountable for making amends for the damage and suffering they have caused. A restorative system would help to ensure that offenders make amends to their victims. Juvenile justice cannot do this alone, however. Restorative justice requires that not only government, but also victims, offenders, and communities be involved in the justice process. The most distinctive feature of restorative justice is its elevation of the role of victims in implementing justice policies. In an effort to achieve a balanced approach to juvenile justice, restorative justice articulates three goals: accountability, public safety, and competency development. Balance is attainable when administrators ensure that equitable resources are allocated to each goal. A table provides the measures for achievement and the priorities for practice for each of these goals. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Bazemore, Gordon and Umbreit, Mark S and O'Brien, Sandra and Umbreit, Mark S. Restorative Juvenile Justice in the States: A National Assessment of Policy Development and Implementation

Balanced and restorative justice, a new framework for juvenile justice reform, seeks to engage citizens and community groups both as clients and resources in a more effective response to youth crime. The approach attempts to ensure that juvenile justice intervention is focused on basic community needs and expectations. Balance is achieved when there is improved public safety, sanctioned juvenile crime, and rehabilitated offenders are reintegrated. Restorative justice emphasizes that crime damages people, communities, and relationships. Sanctioning practices include victim-offender mediation and various community decision-making or conferencing processes. A national telephone survey of restorative justice professionals was conducted. Results showed that virtually every State was implementing some aspect of the restorative justice principles at various levels and in its programs and policies. A majority of the States had crafted or revised their statutes and codes to reflect restorative justice principles and had encouraged their use in the juvenile justice system. Restorative justice reform efforts involve a number of major stakeholders both within and outside of government and often necessitate a significant role to be played by a reform initiator. Under a different approach to reform, the stakeholders are primarily governmentally related and roles are tied to traditional hierarchical and bureaucratic structures and processes. Interview respondents expressed multiple impressions of what constitutes a restorative justice program. Funding and resource availability played a mixed role in restorative justice implementation. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Burns, Linda. Juvenile Accountability Conferencing: A Child of Restorative Justice

A new spin on Restorative Justice, the Juvenile Accountability Conferencing Program in Montgomery County, New York, is helping youthful offenders understand the consequences of their crime, not only for themselves, but for others. It is giving victims an opportunity to have nagging questions about the crime answered, establish restitution that they feel ""fits"" the crime and their needs, and most of all, find closure. The youthful offenders are relieved to be able to make things right and put their lives back together. This session is an opportunity to learn how this new program is being run, some of the pitfalls and triumps of actual conferences, names withheld of course, and offers a question and answer period. Author's Abstract.

Correctional Service of Canada. Youth Restorative Action Project (YRAP), Edmonton, Alberta

The Youth Restorative Action Project (YRAP) of Edmonton, Alberta, is a justice committee focusing on addressing problems from hate crimes, as well as crimes connected with child prostitution, mental illness, and substance abuse. YRAP was inspired by teenager Jasmina Sumanac. Moving to Canada from Serbia, she was struck by the need to combat hate, racism, and other issues not only in Serbia but also in Canada. Collaborating with her Youth Worker, Mark Cherrington, she and Mark initiated YRAP. As described in this resource paper, YRAP receives referrals from youth courts. Members of YARP meet in a restorative conference with all stakeholders in the problem to deal with the offense and its consequences. YRAP has gained significant recognition, and it is now beginning to expand to Toronto and other areas.

Creating Alternatives for Young Offenders in Toronto

An innovative diversion programme offers young offenders in the Greater Toronto area an opportunity to clear their records and contribute to the community. Called PACT (for participation, acknowledgement, commitment, and transformation), it partners with youth courts to provide a restorative justice and community service alternative in sentencing young offenders.

Eastern Kentucky University, Training Resource Center. Participant Guide. Restorative Justice: Repairing Harm, Reducing Risk and Building Community (A Live National Satellite Broadcast)

This guide was developed to accompany a 2001 satellite telecast examining the experiences of three metropolitan communities that have implemented many changes in their respective justice systems to achieve the priorities of BARJ – public safety, accountability and competency development. (excerpt)

Editor. Interchange: How one volunteer has made a difference

Alice Lynch is executive director of a nonprofit in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that engages social issues affecting women and their families. She also participates in the Restorative Justice Advisory Council, a statewide advisory group to the Minnesota Department of Corrections. On these bases, she volunteered to bring restorative justice to her own neighborhoods in north Minneapolis. This article describes her work coordinating the other volunteers of the Northside Community Justice Committee as they employ the model of restorative circles in dealing with African-American juvenile offenders.

Furness, Amanda. Turning Toward Compassion: Restorative Justice works to develop youths' conscience

It isn't enough just to boss them around. Parents, teachers and court authorities have found this statement to be true in their dealings with many of today's youth - often losing their children to the system after forced discipline fails to work. A method recently introduced in New Orleans called the "restorative justice" movement is hoping to revolutionize the relationships between youth and their communities by exhibiting the most basic human emotion. Love. (extract)

Goodenough-Gordon, Katya. RADIUS Program for Girls in Minnesota Offers a Gender-Specific Model.

RADIUS is an innovative effort that blends the philosophies of restorative justice with the best practices of gender- responsive programming for girls under 18. Restorative services are provided to girls while they are in residential placement, during their transition and furlough, and after release. The two key components of the program are restorative justice circles and grief and trauma counseling. (excerpt)

Griffin, Patrick. Ten Years of Balanced and Restorative Justice in Pennsylvania.

This paper describes the ways in which Pennsylvania's juvenile system has been reformed over the last decade to reflect the principles of balanced and restorative justice (BARJ).The BARJ principles for Pennsylvania's juvenile system were incorporated in Act No. 1995-33 (Act 33), which was passed in 1995. Act 33's BARJ principles hold juvenile offenders accountable for their offenses by including in their case management requirements to remedy the harms that their offenses have caused victims and the community. In order to document what has happened over the 10 years since Act 33 was enacted, this report examined the findings of Juvenile Justice System Outcome Measures, which contain reports by the State's juvenile court and probation departments for each quarter, synthesized into an annual Juvenile Justice Report Card. The 2005 Juvenile Justice Report Card showed that just over $2.5 million in victim restitution and Crime Victims' Compensation fund payments were collected from juveniles whose cases were closed that year; and more than 500,000 hours of community service were performed by juveniles. Key observers agree that these data reflect a significant change in juvenile justice from the period before Act 33 was passed. The primary change is in holding offenders accountable for the harms they have caused. One of the most closely monitored measures of juvenile system performance in the State's juvenile probation departments is the proportion of youth who successfully complete supervision without reoffending. According to the 2005 Juvenile Justice Report Card, approximately 87 percent of cases statewide were closed without a new offense. In emphasizing accountability and the mitigation of harms, BARJ has retained the previous goals of supervision, care, and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. In fact, BARJ has brought the implementation of these concepts to new levels by requiring training in skill-building in combination with eliminating negative behaviors. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Hanneman, Evelyn U. Interchange: Maine’s Chief Justice discusses the court’s movement toward restorative justice

With few judges and growing caseloads, Maine’s Chief Justice considers restorative programs that make a difference in young lives–and impress the court personnel. Author's abstract.

Hines, David. Conferencing and Law Enforcement: Woodbury Community Justice Program

A suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Woodbury is a rapidly growing city of 50,000 people. In recent years it has experienced a significant increase in juvenile offending. The Woodbury Police Department decided it was necessary to try a new approach to the problem of juvenile crime. Thus was born the Woodbury Community Justice Program. It is a police-based program which employs restorative practices to deal primarily with juvenile crime and delinquency. David Hines, a police officer with the Woodbury Public Safety Department, describes this community restorative justice program, including providing statistics on violations dealt with over nearly eight years, as well as guidelines for officer training.

Hughes, S and Schneider, A.. Victim-Offender Mediation: A Survey of Program Characteristics and Perceptions of Effectiveness

This survey of 240 juvenile justice organizations in the U.S. investigates the characteristics and effectiveness of victim-offender mediation. Mediation programs were most often governed by private/nonprofit organizations and received referrals primarily from the court or probation/intake officials. The majority of mediators were paid staff members who were almost always trained in mediation. The final contract usually involved monetary restitution to the victim, and this was monitored in most cases. Programs were not usually evaluated. In general, staff workers were less optimistic than program administrators in assessing the effectiveness of mediation, and more positive concerning the effects of incarceration and probation.

Krisberg, Barry. Rediscovering the Juvenile Justice Ideal in the United States.

This chapter traces the evolution of the American juvenile justice system from the 1960s through the early 2000s. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in In re Gault, which proclaimed that minors were entitled to due process and equal protection in court proceedings, changed the course of juvenile justice. The sentiment throughout the country during the 1970s was that juvenile offenders should be deinstitutionalized and emphasis should be placed on rehabilitation rather than punishment. In 1974, Congress enacted the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), which established the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to conduct research and training and make funding available to States and jurisdictions. While OJJDP made great strides for juvenile justice in its early years, both Presidents Reagan and Bush (the elder), curtailed funding for the OJJDP and appointed conservative people to head OJJDP who had limited or no qualifications. The moral panic created by a surge in juvenile violence during the early 1990s also prompted public sentiment to shift away from rehabilitation and back toward confinement. President Clinton’s appointment of Janet Reno as the U.S. Attorney General guided the OJJDP back on its course and provided it with a focus on delinquency prevention as the key component to combating youth crime. President George W. Bush, on the other hand, appointed a leader with little experience and then succeeded in decreasing OJJDP funding. The author contends that at the dawn of the 21st century, there are three major juvenile justice initiatives that have the potential to revolutionize the American juvenile justice system: (1) balanced and restorative justice; (2) the OJJDP Comprehensive Strategy; and (3) the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. Following a brief description of these initiatives, which focus on restorative justice practices and the value of crime prevention, the author contends that major changes are needed to save the under-funded, under-staffed American juvenile justice system. (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov).

Lee County Victim Offender Conference Program

The Lee County Victim Offender Conference (VOC) Program is a relatively new outgrowth of the Illinois Balanced and Restorative Justice Initiative. VOC provides victims with an opportunity to meet with first time young offenders as a diversion from court. In this article, Mary Huffman of Lee County Probation provides an overview of the development of Lee County VOC.

Maloney, Dennis M and Umbreit, Mark S. Managing change: Toward a balanced and restorative justice model.

Maloney and Umbreit describe the difficulties for management in the juvenile justice system. In response, they argue for systemic change in juvenile probation departments for greater success. Such change must address the mission and purpose of the juvenile probation system. Maloney and Umbreit then consider the implications for personnel and program, particularly with respect to victim-offender mediation, community service, and competency-based interventions.

McCormick, Anna C. Confronting the Past and Building a Future: Peacemaking Circles in a Northern Canadian Community

The most significant changes in the administration of youth justice, based on a transformative philosophy, are occurring in First Nations communities, in response to a history of oppression, near-genocide, culture conflict with, and proven ineffectiveness of the Western criminal justice system. In efforts to reassert power and take responsibility for local issues, address crime and victimization, build community, revive traditional values, increase community capacity and self-sufficiency, create a healthier reality for future generations, and prepare for eventual self-government, one primarily First Nations community in the Yukon has developed and implemented peacemaking circles. This thesis is a result of field research conducted in this community. Based on participant observation and interviews with community justice practitioners, community members, justice personnel, young offenders and victims who have experienced peacemaking circles, it explores several individual, community, and system level challenges which may affect the potential of circles to accomplish objectives. The initiative operates within a community and political environment that is plagued by misinformation, skepticism, mistrust, resistance, apathy, dysfunctionality, power imbalances, state paternalism, and minimal ideological and financial support. Project evaluations cannot be imposed from the outside, before these issues have the opportunity to be addressed, or before the initiative has sufficient time to reach long-term objectives. Failure to address these and other issues could be devastating to the entire restorative justice movement, and doom communities to continued intervention by and subordination to an ineffective and oppressive retributive justice system. Author's abstract.

McGarrell, Edmund F and Hipple, Natalie Kroovand. Family Group Conferencing and Re-Offending Among First-Time Juvenile Offenders: The Indianapolis Experiment.

n an assessment of treatment, this study examined prevalence patterns of reoffending among first-time juvenile offenders involved in family group conferences (FGC) in Indianapolis, IN.The results of the Indianapolis Restorative Justice Experiment using family group conferences (FGC) for first-time juvenile offenders were largely positive. The findings indicate that youths participating in FGC survive longer before being rearrested over a 24-month period. In addition, youths participating in conferences had significantly lower incidence rates. The results indicate the need for continued experimentation and study of the role of restorative justice practices and FGC in the justice system. Restorative justice processes and family group conferences in particular have become increasingly common in justice system practices across the world. In a family group conference, after admission of responsibility by the offender, they, the victim, and the supporters of both the offender and victim are brought together. They are brought together with a trained facilitator to discuss the incident and the harm brought to the victim. The FGC provides an opportunity for the victim to explain how they have been harmed and ask questions of the offender. This study addressed the reoffending among youths involved in FGC. Nearly 800 youths participated in the experiment and the cases were tracked for 24 months following their initial arrest. (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov).

McKinnon, Peter. Squaring the Circle With At-Risk Youth

The Peacemaking Circle project, which involves Crown prosecutors, provincial court judges, social workers and community activists, aims to help youth who have committed criminal offences, along with those likely to come in conflict with the law. In essence, youth participate in a series of meetings to identify issues and problems, devise effective solutions, and track progress. (excerpt)