NCJ Number
196696
Date Published
2003
Length
145 pages
Annotation
This book describes many current and diverse examples of community justice initiatives in police, courts, and corrections and develops the principles that undergird these efforts.
Abstract
The authors view community justice as a broad strategy that is based in three principles. First, community justice selects high-impact locations where there is a concentration of crime and criminal justice activities, in order to develop special strategies designed to improve the quality of community life, especially by promoting public safety. Second, community justice approaches its tasks in these areas by working to strengthen the capacity of informal systems of social control, such as families, neighborhood groups, friends, and social supports. Third, in order to strengthen community capacity, community justice initiatives develop partnerships with residents, businesses, and other social services to coordinate the way public safety problems are addressed. Chapters describe the initiation and development of community justice within the traditional criminal justice functions of law enforcement, courts, and corrections. For police, community justice involves interacting with community institutions and representatives to tailor police and community activities to the various problems residents perceive to be undermining their quality of life. Community justice for the courts requires that prosecutors and defense attorneys become familiar with the various public-safety problems that come to the attention of the courts. Special legal approaches can be developed to target problems specific to particular communities. Regarding community justice in corrections, the focus has been on the use of probation, parole, and other community-based correctional programs for offenders. In such corrections endeavors, offenders are not only supervised and served in the community, but also draw upon community resources in order to encourage the development of positive behaviors and lifestyles for offenders. The book concludes with a discussion of the future of community justice. Appended description of how the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services is involved in community justice, chapter references, and a subject index