The mission of the Restorative Justice Community Action, Inc. is to improve community livability through restorative justice practices.
Restorative justice is about repairing the harm caused by crime or conflict. Face-to-face models allow the people affected to meet and decide outcomes together. In contrast to the traditional system of justice, which is punitive, restorative justice aims to mend what was broken.
Through restorative justice:
Restorative Justice Community Action, Inc. (RJCA) started as the Central City Neighborhoods Partnership (CCNP) Restorative Justice Program in 1997. It was sponsored by Stevens Square Community Organization on behalf of the original CCNP neighborhoods: Stevens Square, Downtown, Loring Park, and Elliot Park. After expanding from four neighborhoods to ten, in 2005 the program incorporated to expand organizational capacity in favor of continued growth. RJCA’s court diversion program has now handled over 1000 incidents of livability crime in Minneapolis’ inner-city neighborhoods, with outstanding results.
In 1997, four central Minneapolis neighborhoods known collectively as Central City Neighborhoods Partnership, or CCNP, took action to help the criminal justice system improve its response to chronic crime problems in the urban core by establishing the first-of-its kind restorative justice program in the nation. These neighborhoods – Downtown Minneapolis, Loring Park, Elliot Park, and Stevens Square – had grown increasingly concerned about the impact of livability offenses on their communities. The high incidence of behaviors such as drinking in public, loitering to buy or sell narcotics, soliciting prostitution, disturbing the peace, and public urination were contributing to an atmosphere of fear and mistrust, degrading the business environment, eroding residential stability, and negatively impacting the quality of life for those whose homes, jobs, businesses, schools, and churches are located in the heart of the city.
Through several research projects conducted in the mid-1990’s, CCNP learned that the local court system had limited resources to address low-level offenses. Most cases were resolved with small fines or dismissals. Weak consequences, in turn, gave officers little incentive to arrest or cite problem people. And whether offenders received a payable ticket or had to appear in court, they often had no idea how they were harming the community. Meanwhile, neighborhood efforts to combat crime through block patrols, block clubs, and 911 campaigns seemed futile as apprehended persons were soon back on the streets, engaged in the same activities.
In 1995 and 1996, CCNP held a series of roundtables with local policymakers to discuss their findings and their concerns. As an outgrowth of these discussions, one of the neighborhood associations – Stevens Square Community Organization – took the lead to spearhead several efforts in favor of system change: expanding the availability of Sentence to Service as a sanction judges could impose in court; opening the first neighborhood probation office in Hennepin County; and launching the Central City Neighborhoods Partnership Restorative Justice Program.
Although all three efforts were successful, it was the CCNP Restorative Justice Program - founded in 1997 by Gena Gerard, CCNP's fourth graduate assistant from the University of Minnesota - that established a permanent, effective means of community collaboration with the criminal justice system for the purpose of handling individual nuisance crimes at the neighborhood level in a positive, pro-active way. After researching restorative justice practices for CCNP, Gerard developed a new model that she termed "Community Conferencing," an adoption of a conflict resolution model called Family Group Conferencing, which originated in New Zealand. Community Conferencing recognized the community as a victim of livability crime and empowered neighborhood stakeholders to tackle such crimes collectively through guided face-to-face meetings with offenders. With support from the Minneapolis Police Department, Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office, Hennepin County District Court, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office, and Hennepin County Community Corrections, the program established innovative referral systems that gave the community access to these cases for the first time.
Now an award-winning and internationally recognized program, the CCNP Restorative Justice Program was a pioneering effort to apply restorative justice methods – specifically the family group conferencing process that originated with the Maori people of New Zealand – to inner-city crime problems where there were no specific victims. It was hoped that so-called “victimless” offenses could be addressed by recognizing the community as a victim of livability crime in the context of conferencing, which traditionally brought the victim and offender together to craft an agreement for repairing the damage caused by crime. In September 1997, CCNP held its first “community conference” for a man who had solicited prostitution, involving four community members from the neighborhood where the incident occurred. Guided by two facilitators trained in family group conferencing, the group talked about the impact of the incident and then worked out terms of restitution to the community.
Since that first case, the program has addressed over 1000 incidents at the community level, involving more than 480 community members in the justice process. The program has held all participating offenders accountable to the community for their actions, giving a voice to people victimized by persistent low-level crime, and producing thousands of hours of service for the neighborhoods harmed. About 90% of all participating offenders follow through with their agreements for restitution to the community. Importantly, the program has re-engaged offenders with the community in positive ways, supporting them as productive members of society and minimizing their contact with the criminal justice system. Moreover, as documented in an independent program evaluation in 1999, the program has fostered community-building by creating and strengthening community members’ relationships, in effect building capacity for the collective management of behavior and community-based crime prevention. A 2002 study showed that only 10 percent of offenders had a conviction for a new offense following their participation in the RJCA program.
The program has earned a reputation for being committed to quality, and for consistently achieving outstanding results. Ongoing evaluation activities include post-conference facilitator peer reviews, post-conference staff debriefings, and satisfaction surveys for all offenders, victims, community members, and supporters. According to the surveys, 98% of community participants, 99% of offenders, and 99% of offender supporters are satisfied with the outcomes of community conferences. A total of 95% report that they feel more connected to the community as a result of their participation. Asked if they felt the facilitator did a proper job, 99% of respondents say yes, and nearly 100% would recommend conferencing to others.
Viewed as a model program for engaging ordinary citizens in the justice process and the civic life of their community, the program has attracted local, national, and international attention. Minnesota Corrections Association presented RJCA with its 2005 President’s Award “for creativity, resourcefulness, effectiveness, and innovation.” RJCA is frequently consulted by other cities and jurisdictions interested in this community-directed model of justice. Recent international visitors have included the Ukrainian Supreme Court, Chile’s Director of Indigenous Affairs, Jamaican public officials, and Japanese public television. In April 2006, Executive Director Gena Gerard will address civic leaders in Calgary, Alberta with acclaimed sociologist John L. McKnight at the “Safe Streets, Safe Cities” conference.
After completing a three-year plan for expanded services (July 2002 – June 2005), the program grew to eleven neighborhoods as we added Whittier, North Loop/Warehouse District, West Bank/Cedar Riverside, Marcy Holmes, Southeast Como, University of Minnesota, and Prospect Park to the service area. However, it became clear that the need extends further. We are asked by Hennepin County Corrections, the Minneapolis Police Department, and community leaders to consider serving additional neighborhoods where neither the community nor offenders have access to restorative justice but the need for an effective community-directed solution is great. In 2006, we took steps to close gaps in service across the city. As a result, our service area expanded from eleven Downtown-area neighborhoods to include the North Minneapolis neighborhoods of Jordan, Hawthorne, Willard-Hay, Near North, Cleveland and McKinley. Our current three-year strategic plan includes continued expansion in South and Northeast Minneapolis, with the ultimate goal of providing restorative services to all Minneapolis neighborhoods.
When Stevens Square Community Organization launched the program in 1997, it was viewed as an incubator project. It was hoped that someday the program would be able to stand on its own. In 2004, after the program had grown considerably and extended beyond CCNP's original boundaries, SSCO and community members developed consensus with system leaders that incorporation would build the capacity to serve more people. With the full support of Stevens Square Community Organization, the program incorporated as Restorative Justice Community Action, Inc. on July 1, 2005. Program founder Gena Gerard then served as RJCA's first Executive Director until stepping down in 2007 after ten years with the organization.
Community Conferencing is a restorative justice process that engages offenders with the community to address livability crimes by focusing on personal responsibility and neighborhood restoration. In a small group meeting, trained facilitators guide a respectful discussion between offenders and community members affected by crime. Participants may include direct victims, area residents, workers, business owners, students, church members, and other stakeholders. The group talks about the impact of the offense, educating the offender about how the person's actions affect them and their neighborhood. The group then decides together on a community restitution agreement that typically involves volunteer service in the neighborhood of the offense. Agreements can also include apologies, donations, or personal development activities such as classes or counseling. Topics covered range from public drinking and public urination to soliciting prostitution and drug dealing/possession. This program was pioneered by Restorative Justice Community Action, when it originally started in 1997 as the Central City Neighborhoods Partnership Restorative Justice Program.
Our criminal justice system is overloaded with quality-of-life crimes, but resources to address them are limited. Offenders often have no idea how they are affecting others, and are rarely given the opportunity to right their wrongs. The stakeholders - offenders, victims, and community – remain disconnected. Restorative justice gives us tools to make our community stronger by holding offenders responsible to those they have harmed, educating them about the consequences of their actions, and giving them positive ways to be reconnected to the community as they help strengthen the neighborhoods where they offended.