CJ

Tonight I started my first (and last, and only) law class: Community Justice. As soon as he walked in the door, the professor zoomed in on me and asked me to tell the class what I knew about community justice. I said, I have no idea what it is, then I muttered something about how I didn't know whether the US had a tradition of community justice...he gently asked, are there indigenous peoples in the states? Well then!

I went home tonight and googled a few things, and not only does the US have a tradition of CJ, especially in San Francisco, Atlanta has its very own community justice program:

In September 2005, the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice funded ten demonstration projects under its new Community-Based Problem-Solving Criminal Justice Initiative. The following edited excerpt was taken from Atlanta’s winning proposal.

In late 2000, the City of Atlanta’s Municipal Court created a community court, which has evolved into a comprehensive problem-solving court. Currently, the Court is operating two neighborhood Restorative Boards, both in inner-city neighborhoods where poverty rates are high. Under its problem-solving initiative, Atlanta proposes to expand and enhance its Restorative Board program into four additional Atlanta neighborhoods. The Restorative Boards have proven to be especially effective by bringing an offender back to a neighborhood for sanctioning and restoration and giving a meaningful voice to community members in the justice process.

The boards seek to close the gap between the courts and community. Defendants, often young and first-time offenders, are identified by court staff as appropriate candidates for diversion to the boards. Staff recruit board members from the neighborhood where the board is established. After extensive training in the principles of restorative justice and the policies of the board, members are sworn into service by the judge of Community Court. When a defendant appears before the board, together they discuss the nature of the offense and its negative consequences for the victim, community and offender. An agreement is reached on a course of action that the defendant will take to “right the wrong” his/her actions have created. Activities are also identified for the offender to pursue in order to reduce the likelihood that he/she will offend again. Examples include GED completion, job search skills training, anger-management and conflict resolution classes, parenting classes, etc. Board members meet several times with offenders to monitor their progress and offer congratulations upon success.

I felt kind of silly, but it was such a great class, and the professor so genuinely excited about the topic that it was worth it. I'm happy to be made to feel silly any day if someone is going to get so worked up during socratic style lecture that he is actually out of breath! I tried to get out of doing a research project and presentation and some other things I'm not sure I understood, but my explanation may have been too elegant, and I'm on the hook. ("No quiero castigar la clase con mi espanol inventado...") My own fault for getting fancy with my stumblings.

I was secretly pleased, though, since I so rarely get to talk in front of groups here, and find it addictive. Must come from being from a big family where no one listens. When people are forced to pay attention to me I figure I'd better make the most of it while it lasts. I may have expounded, just a bit, when asked today in the extension class, on the elements of capoeira, my poor knees and back, what sports I played in high school...getting put on the spot tonight was probably payback.