NCJ Number
192175
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 33 Issue: 2 Dated: December 2001 Pages: 296-313
Date Published
December 2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article describes the history of programs in Deschutes County, Oregan, related to community justice through building the community, reducing risk, and repairing harm.
Abstract
Criminal justice officials in the county have teamed with local elected officials, legislative representatives, and private citizens to acknowledge the justice system’s shortfalls and develop a better system of criminal justice. The system rests on the philosophy that everyone is responsible for and affected by community safety, crime victims are the main customers of the justice system, restorative justice helps repair the victim and the community, and government must be accountable to its citizens. The county’s community justice programs include revamped victim assistance programs, victim-offender mediation, and a community youth investment program that treats youth locally instead of sending them to State institutions. The latter program earns State resources that otherwise would be destined for corrections costs and reinvests these resources in juvenile delinquency prevention efforts. The specific elements of community justice in the county evolved in response to the region’s specific conditions, its risk population, its youth population, the State’s political climate, and the atmosphere in the county government. Nevertheless, the community justice model can succeed anywhere if the central principles of community justice and the central tools to make it happen are in place. Tables, figure, and 3 references (Author abstract modified)