Two restorative justice community courts are set to open in September in the Chicago area. The courts are based off the model of our Red Hook Community Justice Center and aim to settle nonviolent felony and misdemeanor cases involving young people using restorative practices.
"Climate change is racial injustice." Taking that as their topic, students in our Brooklyn-based Restorative Justice in Schools program placed first out of 2,200 submissions in NPR's Student Podcast Challenge. Read more about the students, and hear their award-winning episode, in this NPR profile. "Racism is like a tree," explains one of the students, "and police brutality and environmental racism are just a couple of branches off that giant tree."
Out of 2,200 submissions across the United States, "The Flossy Podcast," created by the Men in Color group, a project of our Restorative Justice in Schools program, won NPR's Student Podcast Challenge. Students Jaheim and Joshua and teacher Mischael joined WNYC's Brian Lehrer to discuss their winning episode on climate change and environmental racism.
In a call to "create a better, more holistic approach to justice in America," an opinion piece in USA Today includes our Red Hook Community Justice Center and Harlem Community Justice Center as examples of restorative justice programs that focus on healing and break the cycle of justice-involvement.
The New York Times writes that Deanna Van Buren is “rethinking the architecture of justice.” Our peacemaking program in Syracuse, N.Y., which she designed, is highlighted in this profile of her work.
The New York Times reports on the expansion across New York City of the restorative response to driving-related offenses we pioneered at our Red Hook Community Justice Center. We anticipate our Driver Accountability Program will now reach 2,500 drivers annually while reducing the negative impacts of the justice system.
A profile of the peacemaking program at our Red Hook Community Justice Center, where storytelling moves justice "towards reconciliation and rehabilitation." Sessions led by trained facilitators bring together everyone involved in a case, offering them a chance to apologize and a chance to forgive.
We all want safe neighborhoods, argues our Greg Berman in this op-ed, but the way we treat many people arrested for low-level offenses does more harm than good. Berman offers New York City as a potential model for other jurisdictions looking to reform low-level justice.
