Speaking of Law Schools and Problem-Solving Justice...

Stein Scholars debriefing at the Hope & Anchor in Red Hook

I spent yesterday afternoon at Fordham Law School with the Stein Scholars, the school's public interest lawyering program. Three students, Liz Ling, Prescott Loveland, and Amanda Niederauer, presented their reflections and findings from a semester-long project with the Red Hook Community Justice Center. We asked the group to conduct a qualitative analysis of the Brooklyn Adolescent Diversion Program, particularly with an eye toward a new program slated to launch in July.

The project required the group to spend quite a bit of time in Red Hook and at the downtown criminal courthouse on Schermerhorn Street. Ultimately, the students' collective experience resembled some sort of wonderful, albeit peculiar hybrid of crash-course in criminal justice reform and acute immersion in the professional culture of misdemeanor criminal practice. Not surprisingly, this experience yielded an equally fascinating set of observations and recommendations, a thoughtful blend of process analysis, distillation and synthesis of stakeholder interviews, and good ol' fashioned thick description a la Clifford Geertz -- with a touch of bricolage a la Claude Lévi-Strauss.

As good as the substantive content was (and it was good!), I was especially taken by the students' enthusiasm and electrifying energy. When you work in criminal justice, it is easy to lose the proverbial forest for the trees, to lose sight of opportunities for meaningful change amidst the aggravations and flotsam and jetsam of daily professional life. But I left yesterday's presentation feeling refreshed; I bounded for the subway eager to revisit the ongoing, untidy complexities of justice reform on the ground.

Props & Appreciation to the Steins,

Julian

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Peacemaking in Red Hook

Raymond Deal, Traditional Program Specialist, Shiprock District Court, Navajo Nation and Gloria Benally, Program Coordinator, Navajo Nation, train future Red Hook Peacemakers After an intensely trying period in Red Hook in the weeks following Hurricane Sandy, building, strenghtening, and healing relationships between residents and organizations has become crucial. This past weekend, we took a step towards preparing the neighborhood for the hard work ahead with a two-day workshop with peacemakers from the Navajo Nation for residents we are training to serve as peacemakers here in Red Hook. A new project from the Center for Court Innovation's Tribal Justice Exchange , peacemaking is a traditional Native American approach to justice. While the exact form peacemaking takes varies among tribes, it usually consists of one or more peacemakers—often community elders—who gently guide a conversation involving not only those directly involved in an offense or conflict but family

Supporting the Staten Island Youth Justice Center at "Inside/Outside Legislative Theatre" Performance

On June 4th, a group of the Red Hook Youth Court members and staff went to see the "Theater of the Oppressed NYC" performance at the New School. Before attending this event, the youth court members had no idea that anything like this went on! While there, we learned that 12 different legislative laws were changed through something called "Legislative Theatre." The audience members get to be "spect-actors," which is great because the actual audience members got to participate in the play themselves and share their ideas. The performances last night were put on by members of the Staten Island Youth Justice Center (part of the Center for Court Innovation Family). These two plays dealt with real life issues such as getting stopped for not paying your bus fare, arriving late to school and getting sent to the principal's office because of the "zero tolerance policy," getting into fights at school, not knowing one's rights, and being raciall

Rent, Repairs, and Rights: A Guide to Housing Court for NYCHA Tenants

Lillian Marshall, Tenant Association President of Red Hook West (left) and Naureen Rashid, Director of Court Operations Dorothy Shields, Tenant Association President of Red Hook East (Left) and Naureen Rashid, Director of Court Operations Hon. Alex Calabrese, Presiding Judge of the Red Hook Community Justice Center Graphic Designer Jenny Kutnow Clara Amenyo from the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)

Red Hook Justice - Your Community. Your Court.

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