Restorative Peer Court hearing comes with pizza

Last week I took part in my first RPC 'hearing'. The RPC hearing culminates after the intake process where the juvenile and their guardians agree to go through with this diversion process, which would definitely be better not only because the juveniles get their records expunged, but it also helps to hold the juveniles accountable and offers them a chance to actually learn from their mistake. In order to give a concrete picture of the entire process, let me try to break down the steps.

Intake: The intake process is conducted in order to familiarize the respondent and their guardian with the process of RPC. It is also used as an opportunity to remind the respondent that RPC is not a legal process, which I have seen tends to ease the parties in most cases. Necessary waivers and release forms are signed during this time, and the importance of confidentiality throughout the process is reiterated. Even though CDR and its staff are not mandatory reporters any information during the RPC process that leads to a probable suspicion of child or elder abuse would be duly notified to the authorities. Other than that exception, from the time the first correspondence was initiated to the time of completion all records and conversations are confidential. The intake process is also used by the RPC coordinator or anyone scheduling the intake to determine if the respondent is fit for the process or not. Questions that would be asked during the actual process are asked to the respondent so that they can feel more at ease when the actual day of hearing arrives. I feel like sometime if the juvenile is provided with questions that will be asked in the hearing, the respondent can prepare/rehearse to the extent that they fake sincerity but I suppose I am more cynical about this, for now at least. A notice to arrive in court is provided with schedule date and time.

Peer Court Hearing: During the day of the peer court before proceedings begin, a support person greets the respondent and their guardians before they are led to the circle process. The support person goes over a few more questions, checks-in with the respondent making them feel at ease, and after the hearing is done will go over the sanctions and keep track of the progress made. The peer court session takes place in the form of a circle process. Depending upon the number of volunteers present all the individuals inside the circle will be youth, except for the "Elder", whose role is to ensure that both the process and outcomes are fair and constructive. All the volunteers are provided with a circle process script to follow depending upon the roles they assume, which can be: peer panelist, lead panelist, convener/facilitator, and scribe. No matter the roles assigned everyone will participate in asking exploratory questions so as to know the respondent’s personal life, school life, what happened regarding the offense, who they think was impacted, and what repairs could be provided to those impacted.

Sanctions: After the deliberation by the peer panelists under the discreet and often times silent supervision of the elder, the youth will decide upon sanctions for the respondent after they have successfully heard their story. There is a minimum of 4 hours of community service, 2 panel participations (where the respondents come back to hear someone else’s story and deliberate) and Minor In Possession or Theft Impact class depending upon the offense. However, other than those the panelists are free to choose sanctions that they think will help the respondent constructively. Sanctions are chosen not to serve as punishment, but to help heal the harm that was done and to better direct the respondent towards constructive paths. As I alluded earlier, the support person will go over the sanctions with the respondent and their guardian, and the respondent will have 60 days to complete their sanctions.

The age range of the children working as volunteers or who are coming back to fulfill their sanctions ranges from as young as 8 to 16 years old. It truly was remarkable seeing them work with the offender and how the group arbitrates the sanctions to hand down. Next week I will start doing work as a support person. It is quite a big responsibility to not only make the respondents at ease, but following up on their progress and helping them along the way. I already mentioned there is pizza during the hearings, right? Pizza helps everyone involved to bond over food, and breaking bread is always a welcome sign in mending and working on past grievances.

What is Restorative Peer Court (RPC)?

One of the conflict resolution services provided by CDR is its successful Restorative Peer Court (RPC) program headed by Restorative Justice Programs Manager, Tim McCabe.

The goal of CDR’s Restorative Peer Court is:

“to help juvenile offenders restore their relationships with the community through alternative methods of adjudicating juvenile offenses, including programs that teach responsibility and positive decision making while restoring a sense of safety in the community.”

The Peer Court, also known as Teen Court or Youth Court, is a voluntary diversion process in which youth conduct hearings to recommend consequences, known as ‘sanctions’, for qualifying juvenile offenders. The program is authorized by the Lane County Department of Youth Services (DYS), with non-monetary support provided by the Eugene Police Department and its active volunteers. The cases that are eligible for RPC are first time offense (In some individual cases, at the discretion of the program coordinator, and the recommendation of DYS, second time offender are given the chance to go through the process again, if the offenses are not the same in nature) for non-violent misdemeanors (Referred Crimes: Theft II and III, Criminal Mischief II and III, Criminal Trespass, Disorderly Conduct, Harassment, Other non-violent misdemeanors), violations (Minor in possession of Alcohol, Possession of Less than 1 Ounce of Marijuana Curfew Violation Minor in Possession of Tobacco, Other minor violations). One of the major aspects of the program is that the youth has to take responsibility for their action, which is not the same as conviction, as a gesture of goodwill and an agreement of their good faith in the process. Also, one of the ‘carrots’ of the program is the ability to expunge the offender’s arrest record six months after successful completion of the program. Parents are valued as partners in the process and are provided the same level of information and respect as the offenders themselves as they help the youth to “make the right choice” about participation, and future decisions. The ‘sanctions’ handed down by the RPC are not one size fits all, but are catered towards individuals after hearing their stories and is different in each case.

There are specific steps to this process, beginning from when a case is referred to by the Eugene Police Department and ending in the successful completion of the RPC process. Over the past week I have been training on managing the case loads in the online tracker and setting up case files. I also have been sitting in on the 'intake process' where the offending juvenile, along with their guardians, are invited into the office to discuss the offense and gauging if they would want to go through with the process or not. I have yet to conduct an 'intake' by myself, but I am hoping to sit through a few more and observe before I can conduct one by myself.

And then there was an internship...

Center for Dialogue and Resolution, formerly Community Mediation Services, is nestled at the heart of Whitaker district in Eugene. Albeit the recent rebranding, CDR has been in existence for over 30 years serving Eugene and the greater Lane county. CDR aims to reduce conflict in people’s personal life, organizations and the community through mediation, facilitation and educational programs that helps people build their communication skills. My internship with CDR officially starts tomorrow.

However, I already took a plunge into the world of Restorative Justice, for juveniles, today. Tim McCabe, program manager for Restorative Justice at CDR, offered me a chance to be an observer at a follow up session of a restorative justice case in Junction City. The case involved juveniles who had been caught vandalizing a local middle school and this was the final meeting to assess if they had completed their ‘sanctions’. Even though one of the three juvenile, along with his guardian, failed to make the meeting, the meeting was attended by the juveniles and their guardians, a representative of the school community, and a community member. Everyone talked about how the actions of the juveniles had affected everyone involved; themselves, their families, the school, and community members. Tim did a wonderful job facilitating the conversation and it seemed like the students were sorry for their actions, and had done quite a few tasks to rectify their mistake. Although, I was not involved in the process, it was helpful stepping outside of it and seeing the process more holistically. As it was my first day, technically, I still have yet to catch up on the inner workings of Restorative Justice Program at CDR, but I am more than thrilled to be part of this really wonderful program.

In this blog I will not only be giving insight into what my work at CDR entails, and my own reflections on it, but I will also be reflecting on the themes of restorative justice in the larger American societal context, and how it is very different to how things have been/are in Nepal.