| Community Justice Works |
|
Community Works' newest initiative, Community Justice Works, is committed to facilitating individual and community healing through restorative justice processes. Community Justice Works programs include Family Group Conferencing, COSA, Family Transition Circles, and innovative arts programming. All of these services are based on the priciples and practices of Restorative Justice.
Family Group Conferencing: is offered to some Alameda County youth who are arrested for felonies and high level misdemeanors in lieu of prosecuting and incarcerating these youth. In a Family Group Conference, youth accused of crime meet face-to-face with their victims, with family members and other supporters present on both sides. A plan by which the young person does right by his/her 1) victim, 2) family, 3) community, and 4) self is developed by consensus of all FGC participants. When the plan is completed, charges are never filed. Circles of Support and Accountablity (COSA): offer an opportunity for women to gain intensive support as they reenter their community after incarceration. COSAs are proven to reduce recidivism and support formerly incarcerated individuals to successfully reenter the community they have been disconnected from. Each COSA involves four to seven people who form a circle centered around the reentering woman, known as the “core-member.” COSA members may include friends and family of the core-member, community members, and any other affected parties. The circle assists the core-member in developing a greater understanding of how her incarceration and the behaviors that led to incarceration affect her relationship with self, family, the larger community, and victims, and how this creates harms, needs and obligations. Family Transition Circles: provide a restorative response to incarceration by creating a facilitated space in which a parent who is or has been incarcerated, his/her children, family supporters, and the children’s caretaker(s) meet together to discuss: the harm that was created by the behaviors that led to incarceration, and by the incarceration itself; the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs that have arisen because of that harm; what needs to be done to help heal the harm; and how to plan for a future in which the parent may be more present in the lives of their children. Community Works Restorative Arts ProgramsProgramming for incarcerated youth
|