Proposed Mission Statement:
The East Side Restorative Justice Initiative mission is to build a healthy community by
involving adult misdemeanants who have caused harm, the people who have were harmed,
and concerned East Side local citizens in a process which addresses the needs of the victim,
holds the person who did the harm accountable for restoration, and promotes the growth of
a healthier community.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goals:
1. Promote a healthier community by involving local citizens, those harmed, and those
who caused harm in a restorative process that involves all.
2. Provide a forum for those harmed to express their feelings/thoughts, to get answers to
questions about being harmed, and to seek resolution/reparation.
3. Provide a process that in a respectful manner helps the person who did the harm to
have ownership in the harm caused by them.
4. Provide a cost and time effective alternative to the traditional court process.
5. Provide responses to harmful behaviors that are inclusive and ameliorative.
The above is in large part thievery from Lakes Area Restorative Justice material.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
City Attorney Tedesco might the following assumptions be correct:
35 to 50 referrals from your office to rsj in a year computes to an annual saving of
about $17,500 -$25,000. Calculation based upon a reported figure of 500.00 to
handle a case in Community Court.
Also, if a Restorative Justice Model is more effective than traditional responses to
livability crimes then the monetary and social savings compound directly and
significantly as recidivism diminish.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Mpls RSJ which targets adults misdemeanats, within parameters similar to what we have
discussed, reports the following results:
1. Improved accountability for livability crime: Nearly 2000 offenders have met face
to
face with the community. About 85% have completed restitution.
2. Community empowerment: Over 500 neighborhood stakeholders-including
residents,
churches, businesses and schools- have met with offenders to decide the
outcome
of specific cases. (I wonder if some of the stakeholders, because they are active
citizens, may be counted more than once if they participate in more than one
conference.)
3. Direct Benefit to neighborhoods:
Offenders complete local community service; neighbors get to know each other.
4. Satisfaction:
96% of all community members and offenders are satisfied and would
recommend
conferencing to others. (This is a significantly higher satisfaction number than is
generated by Ramsey County Corrections when they survey similar satisfaction
sentiments. Of course, many factors contribute to the apparent differences.)
5. Potential to reduce Crime: Offenders report a better understaning of how livability
offenses impact the community; 90% have no new convictions.