This year, I have devoted my work life, and sometimes my personal life, to working with Seattle's Community Court. While the full details of the position are somewhat difficult to explain, the meat of the program is that it is an alternative to incarceration and connects defendants with the vital social services they have needed for so long.
There are many of these programs around the U.S. and around the world and I would encourage people to seek more information on these innovative courts (one place to start would be The Center for Court Innovation (the website is difficult to look at in terms of layout and color choices, but it has good information): http://www.courtinnovation.org/). I think that many of us who are voicing concerns about problems in the justice system often get discouraged by lack of government oversight, the criminalization of people based on minor offenses, focus on punitive rather than restorative justice, etc. I wanted to shed some light on a program that is doing really great work and hopefully bring some encouragement to those who think nothing will change.
I have only been working with Seattle Municipal Community Court (SMCC) for a little over three months, but I have already seen the positive impacts it has had on defendants and on me. This is not to say that there are no snags or that all is perfect with this program. As with anything, problems will arise and people will fail (myself included), but overall, this program has done immensely well in helping to rehabilitate those who commit crimes because of survival needs and/or addictions. It is immensely satisfying to see defendants come through and truly appreciate the opportunity to give back to the community from which they took by performing community service. As we do community service, people will stop by to thank our defendants for the work they do and that is also refreshing to hear. We also see defendants helping each other to carry out their work.
In addition to these positive changes happening before our eyes, we get the privilege of working to further develop the program and to work closely with community members, city prosecutors, defense attorneys, the municipal court, and probation. We are able to pinpoint problems that occur, discuss them with the appropriate parties, and then be a part of enacting the solutions that we all come up with. It is truly amazing to watch this work unfold and to be an active member in working towards a positive change in the municipal justice system.
Hopefully, I will be able to add more to this in the next few months as I learn more and grow professionally and personally. I also hope to share with you some inspiring stories of defendants who have come through this program and have started on a better path in their lives.
I think we have something similar in our small town...Its called the councelling center and it helps the community in many aspects. It offers rehabilitation programs for problem teens, the mentally less functional and those with chronic mental illnesses. I am glad there are these programs around to help out and I hope to one day also be apart of something this proactive.
I have a question, what does "lack of government oversight" mean? It sounds like you tried to say two things at once or I might be missing something.
Good Job and keep up the good work.
~T
There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.~- Anais Nin
I was just using "lack of government oversight" as another example of our failures in the criminal justice system. Many times that phrase is used when regarding regulatory issues, but I think it can also be used to talk about criminal justice reform or lack thereof. I believe that if the government spent a little more time looking at ways we can form criminal justice (i.e. focus on education, ending poverty, providing services for the mentally ill, etc.), we would have less crime and those committing crimes over and over again would be able to rehabilitate and become productive members of society.. or at least that's the hope.
Thank you for sharing. i love things like this and I wish there were more of it on ProU.
I am so bothered with the corruption in government on every level. The legal punitive system is only one factor that upsets me, but it is a big one.
We must shift our collective consciousness to creating a system geared toward rehabilitation rather than criminalization. We must wake up and realize that what we think of as justice, incarceration into a closed society ruled by animal savagery, only serves to perpetuate crime.
We need reform on every level of government. We need to stop adding more petitions and legislation on top of the already corrupted foundation. We need to work from the bottom up. We need to be willing to dismiss poorly made decisions if we see that they have not been effective. There is so much work to be done. What you are doing is not a small thing.
I can't wait to read more.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude