By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS - Not only does Berrien County's Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) discourage youthful offenders from committing further crimes, but volunteer-operated panels provide cost-effective service opportunities for citizens of all ages, genders and races. More than 13,000 hours of community service have been given since June 2001.
Elvin Gonzalez, Berrien County Trial Court Family Division administrator since September 2001, Tuesday afternoon explained Berrien's 2004 state award-winning program to officials developing similar services in Cass County.
Michigan Building Restorative Communities initiative is a year-long strategic planning effort at the county level that focuses on integrating the juvenile justice system into a comprehensive community collaboration that supports healthy youth and families.
The mission statement of Cass County BRC is to insure that all voices of the community are heard and respected to maximize the opportunity of youth to grow.
BARJ, the Balanced and Restorative Justice philosophy, explores ways to help young people develop the attitudes and skills that they need to lead productive lives within the law.
BARJ maintains an appropriate focus on public safety while promoting strategies that encourage youngsters to face the consequences of their actions by restoring individual victims and the community that they have harmed.
This approach also recognizes the importance of harnessing the power of the community to the formal juvenile justice system.
Gonzalez suggested to Cass officials that there is a tendency to over-serve youth as well as to under-serve them.
Look at the needs first, then develop programs to meet them to insure a laser approach versus a shotgun.
He described BARJ as an umbrella under which mentoring is one raindrop that could roll off.
Gonzalez said BARJ in Berrien County was sparked by the Neighborhood Watch Association, which wanted to stem a rash of auto thefts.
His court's intake personnel screen cases for their applicability to BARJ. Criteria include low-risk, first-time offenders.
Fifteen volunteers coordinate panels. Following a "prelim" with parents and the restorative board, if appropriate, a five-member panel is convened. The victim can also be part, though this is optional.
Meeting somewhere like the Bridgman state police post, they tell their experiences, which the panel can flesh out with its questions until a mutual agreement is reached on what needs to be done to repair harm done to the victim. Solutions can be creative. A formal agreement is signed spelling out how harm will be repaired.
Once that agreement is prepared, copies are provided to the juvenile and their parents.
Since June 2001, Gonzales related, 125 juveniles have been seen by boards and 95 percent of $18,000 restitution has been collected.
Recidivism is tracked for a year to determine how many become "criminal reoffenders." Not many do. Even after a year, 93 percent of the participants had not "reoffended," he said.
The majority performs community service, but BARJ is further "a cost-effective intervention" because of the volunteer energy harnessed. Berrien County is in the process of coordinating the effort in the north and in the south, so that an offender in Niles would be heard by a panel of Niles citizens, and likewise in Coloma.
Volunteers are as young as college students and as old as retirees. They are black and white, men and women and come from churches and civic clubs and the ranks of retired teachers.
Savings to the court system is "substantial," Gonzales noted.
He anticipates in 2006 tripling the number of kids steered to the restorative board option based on statistical evidence that the program is working well.