The program diverts kids who have committed a crime away from the prison system and instead focuses on rehabilitation through community-based organizations that specialize in restorative justice. Director of Programs. Christina Umali. That presumes that restorative justice is oppositional to public safety, Hung said. About Community Passageways CP COVID-19 Response: We are continuously committed to helping young people, their families, and the community by meeting basic needs, meeting virtually, and advocating for the release of incarcerated people. Contact the entire King County Council and tell them to pass a resolution postponing the adult version of the Restorative Community Pathways program until it includes accountability measures and the judiciary! What does dysfunction in these systems cost our livelihoods, health, family wellbeing, and taxes? Data collected between November 1 of last year and August 18, 2022, shows that of the 145 youth participating in RCP in lieu of prosecution, only 12, or just over eight percent, have had new case referrals. The RCP literally does the opposite, as county documents explicitly state: Since youth are most impacted by decisions related to RCP, the consortium members, program managers, and the County will be accountable to the youth. Homelessness, criminalization of poverty, the Covid crisis, technology and social justice issues are only part of the problems we face. If a youth does not complete a Diversion Agreement or does not respond to requests to meet to establish a Diversion Agreement,Juvenile Court sends the case back to the prosecutor, at which time the prosecutor might decide to file criminal charges. We create alternatives to incarceration for youth and young adults by rebuilding our communities through committed relationships centered on love, compassion, and consistency. Instead of facing traditional prosecution, these individuals who are facing their first charge and are disproportionately young men of color will be offered a community-based alternative that emphasizes restorative justice and restoration for harmed parties, Constantines office wrote. It would launch by 2022 and would be the countys first diversion program, in this form, for felony offenders, said Anita Khandelwal, director of the King County Public Defenders office. Extensive information about Step-Up,including program curriculum, is availableHERE. It has metastasized into a civic systems problem and a taxpayers nightmare. Seattle Times staff reporter King County will keep moving forward with a new juvenile restorative justice program, passed in the wake of 2020's mass racial justice protests, despite the. While at the FIRS Center, youth engagein activities and discussions to empower, teach, and challenge them to take responsibility, make amends, restorefamily relationships, and promote positive youth development. The result? These can include receiving services, doingcommunity service, or paying a victim to compensate for their financial loss. Lily Anderson, Senior Social Worker, or the, Youth who are eligible for diversion, along with their parent or guardian, meet with a team of trained volunteers (learn more about the Partnership for Youth Justice program and theDiversion Community Accountability Board. In a normal, sane criminal justice system, the law-abiding authorities run the show and the criminals are held accountable. Juveniles who threaten physical and deadly harm to innocent people, especially in schools, needs more than a time out devoid of legal oversight. Join to view profile. From a legal perspective, this would be a felony robbery. Earlier this year, Constantine said the county would repurpose its new youth jail by 2025 and close the adult jail in Seattle at an undetermined point in the future. In 2016,Dominiqueestablished Community Passageways, after multiple gun related deaths and incidents on Rainier Avenue. The very first example cited of a rehabilitation even for serious offenses is a boy bringing a gun to school and threatening to shoot someone during a confrontation. Izzy Eads. 2020 Reform from Multanomah County Awesome. It is at the early education, intervention, 911 call, the hospital and at the jail doors. Instead of jails, we will have homes, schools, jobs, and a community that stands with our youth. There are a handful of cases where someone might scratch their head and ask, why that kid is being held for a misdemeanor, said Jimmy Hung, who heads the Juvenile Division at the King County Prosecutors Office. The new justice center has 156 beds, and King County Executive Dow Constantine has said the County doesnt intend to fill them all. Photo courtesy of King County. In study after study, children prosecuted in juvenile court achieve less success and do more harm than comparable youth who have been diverted out of the formal court system. Beyond this, the community-based organizations can help victims of crimes in areas that have nothing to do with the crime itself such as housing or food insecurity. The county currently has a $4.7 million contract with a private security firm to conduct fare enforcement, but the new goal is to have a new program in place by 2022. See more of Covid19 Mutual Aid - Seattle on Facebook Marlon Brown, a board member of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, called the changes a first step. Some money would also be shifted toward youth marijuana-prevention programs. Though some amount of recidivism is unavoidable, the outcomes of the countys diversionary programs have shown some promising improvements. Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus said she supports restorative justice and rehabilitation in her community, but expressed concerns that the RCP program would allow certain crimes such as specific assault charges and illegal possession of a firearm. Get to know a few of our team members & why they partner with Community Passageways. A $6.2 million program called Restorative Community Pathways would refer up to 800 young people, by 2023, to community-based services, rather than filing criminal charges against them. Four of the most prominent existing programs Choose 180, Community Passageways, Creative Justice, and Collective Justice are working with the King County Department of Public Defense to form Restorative Community Pathways, a consortium of service providers for children facing potential misdemeanor or first-time felony charges. . Instead, that money would be used to help people vacate old marijuana-related convictions and settle old fines and court fees. By 2020, Choose 180s annual report noted that 96% of the young people it served did not reoffend within a year. King County Executive Youth who successfully complete a diversion have the addedbenefit of handling a criminal incident without having a criminal conviction. What were not very good at is wrapping ourselves around a young person to help them make better decisions and to turn their lives around, Hung said. Jana Detrick. More savings will come from continuing to limit the countys jail population, Constantine said. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), to guide the County toward an end to youth detention, Patricia H Clark Children and Family Justice Center, Filipino Restaurant CheBogz Rallies Support for Beacon Hill Grand Opening, Weekend Reads | COVID Responses Across the U.S.: What Worked, What Didnt, and What Made a Difference, OPINION | Guns Have Become the Tools of Cowards, OPINION | Get in the Game for Girls Sports. Are you a young person in the Seattle-area who wants to participate in our programs? Creative Justice and Collective Justiceare working with the King County Department of Public Defense to form Restorative Community Pathways, a consortium of service providers for children facing potential misdemeanor . Hung said that over the last several decades, crime has decreased dramatically. Diversion: Keep people out of the prison system and in community. The same could be said for vehicle theft and other types of non-violent crime that undermine public safety and quality of life. Critically, RCP also provides equal resources and support to victims. That is just part of growing up.. Restorative Programs focus on prevention and early intervention using three models: Family Intervention and Restorative Services (FIRS), Step Up, and Diversion. They were consulted on both fronts prior to todays announcement. Although Dunns motion was shot down five to one during a council meeting on March 1, 2022, Hung wants people to know the facts about the program and how his office is viewing it. He said the referrals from police departments recommending prosecution of a juvenile has drastically decreased from the tens of thousands of referrals he would receive annually in the mid-1990s, to now just over 1,000 in 2021. All Rights Reserved. The goal of Step-Up is for youth to stop violence and abuse toward their family and develop. Support: Support people already in the prison system. We collaborate with families, schools, the court system, correctional center staff, religious institutions, policy makers, and community members to support adolescent youth of color. Some might argue that citing potential school shooters is fear-mongering because such instances are rare. Restorative Community Pathways (RCP) was implemented in November. In comparison, data from the State Department of Children, Youth, and Families showed that from 2011 through 2018 juveniles sent to state prison have a recidivism rate of between 49% and 58% annually. This is a community-led initiative, supported by the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) that builds on King Countys current plans and investments to realize the vision of a community where every person can thrive, said Sheila Ater Capestany, Children Youth and Young Adults Division Director in DCHS. Extensive information about Step-Up, including program curriculum, is available, Step-Up accepts referrals from court staff, community providers and families and facilitates both individual and group. 1,706 Followers, 64 Following, 49 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Restorative Community Pathways (@restorative_community_pathways) The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times. These models are designed to provide timely, therapeutic, and restorative support to youth and families. Bringing a gun to school and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree is on that list, he said. 3) Become a mentor, case interceptor or manager, court natigator. With everything going on in this country youre going to allow people to go to a program with no checkback thats brought a gun to school?. But theyre also overlooked as victims. 932 views, 5 likes, 9 loves, 2 comments, 15 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Covid19 Mutual Aid - Seattle: Learn about this amazing work! In 2021, we had, by far in the history of this county, the lowest number of juvenile referrals into my office, Hung said. King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn recently proposed a motion to recommend pausing the program just months into its implementation. The program, according to Dunn, has a major perception problem as the South King County mayors scramble to mitigate the growing crime in their communities. Now, we look at how it's actually run - and our recommendations on how to change it. Sentencing in suitcase murders | Podcast, King County Councilmember proposes regional ban on public drug use, King County Crisis Care Levy passing in first election results, Washingtons COVID-19 exposure notification app to end May 11, Firearms scheme leads to federal charges | King County Crime Dive. Cortez Charles. It's a diversion program for some first-time criminal offenders. But his push to cut funding to the Sheriffs Office brought immediate pushback from Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht, whose office said she was not consulted. Ferrell has described the program as easily fixable, stating that accountable and judicial oversight needs to incorporated. The final steps toward the goal of ending youth detention by 2025 will require the County to agree to non-detention-based alternatives that can support young people in the most dire circumstances including people for whom the County doesnt see a space in the existing restorative justice programs. Restorative Community Pathways Community Navigator. Seattle, Washington, United States513 followers 500+ connections. It will also depend on how the entities guiding the process both in county government and in the nonprofit sector define the end of youth detention.. Metro buses have been free to ride since the pandemic began, but fare collection could restart as soon as Oct. 1 and fare enforcement could resume as soon as Jan. 1. The program diverts kids who have committed a crime away from the prison system and instead focuses on rehabilitation through . Reintegrate: Ensure a smooth, successful integration into the community. By Henry Stewart-Wood September 15, 2022 4:55 pm A look inside the King County Juvenile Detention Center. Bakerview Square Business Suites A World That Relies on Community and Not Courtrooms. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. PO Box 31026, Bellingham, WA 98228 3) Crisis and trauma have individual ripple effects; yet together by giving our ideas and resources we can do turnarounds and make waves of positive change. And thats where I think the community comes in and they do a much much better job than we could ever do.. Many youth avoid secure detention. interventions at the Patricia Clark Child and Family Justice Center and in the community. We cover Seattle and King County on a budget that is funded entirely by reader contributionsno ads, no paywalls, ever. The current program includes: Criminal youth dictating how the program is run What must be made clear to them is that criminal behavior is not acceptable regardless of who does it, that they have a moral obligation to respect other peoples rights and property as others do toward them, and that there are long-term repercussions if the behavior continues. RCP is an important step on King Countys journey to zero youth detention, as the County divests from the juvenile legal system responses to youth in crisis and invests in a community-based diversion response, and the early results are promising. Dunn and the South King County mayors who called for the programs pause said that certain violent crimes, especially ones involving guns, shouldnt be eligible for diversion through RCP and said that violent crime is rising. And so someone who is drafting a motion like that just doesnt understand it.. Show them new paths. Also, some downtown buildings are not open to the public due to a project to close the Administration Building and relocate the agencies affected. If caught, they get a slap on the wrist via the RCP and get a cut of the action that is likely more than what theyd earn working an honest job. Paul Faruq Kiefer is a journalist, historian, and born-and-bred Seattleite. He detailed how a juveniles involvement in the court system and the criminal justice environment can damage a young persons self-esteem and self-worth, making them more likely to develop a life of criminality. At the end of public comment, the motion came up for a vote among the committee, during which it was rejected as every committee member other than Dunn voted against it. The goals of FIRSinclude:decreasing violence in the home,preventing further police contact, and increasing family safety and well-being. Calls to reform the juvenile legal system have increased over the past decade, and RCP is a direct response to the need for systemic change, ensuring youth with lived experience and community members and organizations impacted by these issues are closely engaged with human service providers and government agencies to meet collective goals, including increased public safety and restorative programs. Four of the most prominent existing programs Choose 180, Community Passageways, Creative Justice, and Collective Justice are working with the King County Department of Public Defense to form Restorative Community Pathways, a consortium of service providers for children facing potential misdemeanor or first-time felony charges.
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