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Restorative Justice Part 2: "There is no Champion”

Jordyn Haime

April 20, 2021 |

Granite State News Collaborative |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

In some New Hampshire counties, diversion programs give some people charged with generally low-level crimes the opportunity to make amends, get treatment for underlying problems, and move on in life without a criminal record. While data are spotty, one county showed that people who went through its program committed fewer offenses afterward. But a lack of statewide standards and funding means that such opportunities are not available uniformly.

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Restorative Justice Part 1: Juvenile Court Diversion is Cheap and Effective, But Inconsistent Across NH

Jordyn Haime

April 20, 2021 |

Granite State News Collaborative |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

New Hampshire's 40-year-old system of diverting many juvenile prosecutions away from courts and incarceration, and into community-based restorative justice programs, has saved public money, lowered youth crime rates, and changed lives. By addressing root causes of lower-level offenses, the programs provide treatment to youth who apologize and atone for their offenses, and who then often perform community service projects to erase their arrest record. But there are many fewer resources now than at the program's start, creating an uneven and inequitable patchwork of available services statewide.

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Restorative Justice in Indian Country

Michelle Chen

April 16, 2021 |

Dissent Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Penobscot Indian Island Reservation, Maine

Like standard drug courts, the Penobscot Nation's Healing to Wellness Court refers people facing drug-related criminal charges to substance abuse counseling as an alternative to punishment. But this court and other tribal wellness courts are steeped in indigenous customs, blended with restorative justice approaches, to emphasize rehabilitation based on trust, support, and native traditions. The threat of punishment looms over participants should they fail in their counseling program. But no one has been jailed in the past two years in the Penobscot program.

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Charlotte is taking a new approach to drug cases. It could change lives.

Devna Bose

April 13, 2021 |

The Charlotte Observer |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Charlotte, North Carolina

The Mecklenburg County district attorney stopped prosecuting non-violent, low-level drug cases to free up resources to handle a backlog of more serious cases that built up during the pandemic. The policy had the effect of freeing people from the permanent stain of a criminal conviction and offering them drug treatment as an alternative to punishment.

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How a Colorado town is untangling behavioral health care from the criminal justice system

Sady Swanson

March 22, 2021 |

Coloradoan |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Fort Collins, Colorado

Acting on a recognition that police and the criminal justice system are too involved in responses to mental health and substance abuse crises, UCHealth formed mental health response teams that partner with Fort Collins police on such calls. In about 80% of calls the teams handled, no arrests were made while people received treatment or were referred to needed services. This program plus one that diverts certain criminal cases into treatment, which can result in dismissal of charges, have built-in drawbacks but have begun de-emphasizing criminal-justice remedies when people need other help.

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‘I thought I was gonna die in prison.' How COVID is opening NC prison gates.

Virginia Bridges

March 12, 2021 |

The Charlotte Observer |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, North Carolina

Three incarcerated people and a coalition of social justice groups sued North Carolina over its prison COVID-19 policies, winning a settlement that is accelerating releases from prison that began at the start of the pandemic. The state's prison population is already 17% lower than it was before the pandemic. Under the settlement, 3,500 more people will be granted early releases, which have begun to occur, under new criteria that changed prison rules to recognize the urgency of getting people away from a virus breeding ground.

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Freedom Fund: Bringing Justice to Incarcerated LGBTQ Individuals

Lukas Matuszewski

March 08, 2021 |

StreetWise |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

The 2020 social justice uprisings drew attention, and donations, to bail funds, which use donations to bail people out of jail while their criminal charges or immigration cases are pending. One fund that benefited from this trend is the LGBTQ Freedom Fund, which focuses its financial aid and related social and educational services on LGBTQ people, given their high risks for incarceration and mistreatment in the criminal justice system. Since its 2017 founding, the fund has helped post bail for people in 15 states and its fund has grown to several million dollars.

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‘They track every move': how US parole apps created digital prisoners

Todd Feathers

March 04, 2021 |

The Guardian |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

State and federal parole officials have rushed during the pandemic to embrace the use of smartphone apps that monitor the location and behavior of a person on parole. The apps and related data analytics save courts money and time by easing the need for face-to-face meetings. While there are potential benefits as well for the people being monitored, such as not wearing stigmatizing and uncomfortable ankle monitors, some complain the apps are even more intrusive than traditional monitoring – and perhaps more apt to lead to technical violations of parole that can land people back in prison.

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Hawaii Homeless Program Failed After Prosecutors And Police Wouldn't Play Ball

Christina Jedra

February 11, 2021 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Honolulu, Hawaii

LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) proved itself in Seattle as effective at addressing the underlying problems of people experiencing homelessness, by waiving their criminal charges if they accepted needed services. But the program's two-year test in Honolulu failed to gain traction because only some police bought into it, and the prosecutor's office never did. Instead of using criminal citations as leverage, the program was stripped down to an ordinary outreach effort, and managed to enroll only 50 people, not all of whom were helped. A new prosecutor and the police will make another go of it.

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Youth incarceration fell when California required counties to pay more for juvenile detention: New research

Clark Merrefield

February 02, 2021 |

Journalist's Resource |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

When a California law shifted the costs of incarcerating youth from the state to its counties, judges suddenly sent 40% fewer youth to state-run juvenile facilities. That reduction began a long-term trend that combined with a state commitment to evidence-based approaches to rehabilitation instead of punishment, especially for less-serious offenses. The end result is that state juvenile jails have been all but phased out of existence and California, a longtime tough-on-crime state, now has what one advocacy group considers the nation's most humane juvenile justice system.

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