NEIGHBORHOOD COURT

As I’ve emphasized on several occasions, that the Neighborhood Court program depends in large part upon voluntary cooperation. Today’s blog gives you a chance to meet a typical volunteer. Please meet Sheri Gunner.

SHERI retired from United Airlines after twenty-two years as a flight attendant. Still in good health and probably one of the most vigorous of all the other retired flight attendant friends, she ran for and won the presidency of the retired flight attendant club, she began a rigorous regime of daily power-walks, and rode her bicycle for at least 35-miles, twice a week, along with her retired United Airline pilot. On top of all that she found time to watch at least two movies each week and read at least one book per week. The latter, actually motivated her to join a book club sponsored by the public library not far from her home. Last night was her first meeting of the book club that was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. sharp. It was apparent to all that Sheri had no intention of doing anything that resembled doing nothing at all. Aging wasn’t an option she considered for one single moment.

She arrived at the library for her first book club meeting with twelve minutes to spare. For only a moment, she was curious why no one else was there, but no matter, she was pretty certain that she was in the right place and, of course, she had a really good book with her to occupy her sufficiently until the others arrived. That’s just about the time two women and one man, all wearing power suits walked in. The man, a tall, thin Chinese fellow, was carrying four large, steaming hot, fresh pizzas obviously just out of the oven. Of course curious, Sheri asked, “Hi. Who are you? Maybe I’m in the wrong room.” They all gave a friendly laugh and suggested that fate had got her there.

“The guy was the first to speak. “Hi. How’s it going?” He shook her hand and introduced he and the ladies, “ I’m Rodney Lam, the Director of Neighborhood Court for the Office of the San Francisco District Attorney. Pointing to the short, square-shouldered woman on his right he said, “This is Sally Branson, our Neighborhood Court Prosecutor and this.” pointing to the woman on his left, “this here is Hilary Kramer, the director of CaCDS - California Community Dispute Services. Who are you?” “I’m Sheri Gunner and I’m curious what you’re up to and, oh my God, that pizza smells so good.”

It was suggested that she join them, and the other dozen that were quickly filtering into the room, for a couple of slices of pizza pie and an orientation meeting arranged to explain Neighborhood Court to potential volunteers. Was this up Sheri’s alley or what? Needless to say, Sheri never made it to her first book club meeting. Here’s what she learned.

• Neighborhood Court is an alternative to Criminal Court. Instead of charging cases for criminal prosecution, the District Attorney’s Office can refer certain cases to Neighborhood Court and a panel of volunteer “adjudicators’ will hear the case.

• Adjudicators are residents who volunteer to hear the cases. They have been trained in restorative justice and problem solving. They are people who have a stake in the community. They are not professional lawyers or judges. They are residents, merchants, students, parents or retired people.

• At Neighborhood Court, the adjudicators decide how to resolve the case. All parties may attend. Panelists hear from the offender, and the victim in cases where there is a victim, and discuss the impact of the crime on the community. To resolve the case, they issue “directives,” like community service and/or restitution, or they can dismiss the case.

If you would like more information on how the program works, you can call 415-551-9565, or you can go to www.sfdistrictattorney.org.
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NEIGHBORHOOD COURT (6 of 10)

This is the sixth in a series of investigative reports and fictionalized narratives that deal with an authentically chaotic criminal justice program found in our city of San Francisco where the District Attorney, George Gascón, has launched a pilot program, called Neighborhood Court. As the DA likes to say, “As a restorative justice program, Neighborhood Courts will strengthen communities undermined by criminal activity.” During the five months of my involvement, I sense that the betting is on the DA pulling it off. I just hope we’re not too late. And I remain curious what will happen if George is not re-elected?

Based on the comments I’ve been getting, a more detailed look at the concept called Restorative Justice is called for. For some folks it’s hard to wrap their brain around it. So let’s take another look at it all. First, what are the pertinent questions you should be asking (according to experts)?

• What is it?
• What are its most basic principals?
• What is it for?
• What are the primary objectives?
• Why is it called Restorative Justice?
• How did the idea of Restorative Justice arise?
• What is the relationship of Restorative Justice to Legal Justice?
• What are the limitations of Restorative Justice?

The most complete resource I’ve found to answer all these questions is a report filed by Tony E. Marshall at the Home Office of Research Development and Statistics.

What is it? It is a process whereby the three parties with a stake in a specific offence collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future. Who are these three parties involved? That’s got to be, of course, the offender, the victim and the local community.

What is it good for? The objectives are clear: (a) to attend fully to victim’s needs - material, financial, emotional and social; (b) to prevent re-offending by reintegrating offenders into the community; (c) to enable offenders to assume active responsibility for their actions; (d) to recreate a working community that supports the rehabilitation of offenders and victims and is active in preventing crime; and (e) to provide a means of avoiding escalation of legal justice and the associated costs and delays.

What are the limitations? There are several limitations, but perhaps the biggest is that Restorative Justice relies in large part upon voluntary cooperation. If one party is not willing to participate the range of options is reduced. If neither party is willing, there is no option but to let formal justice take its usual course.

Next week I will take a look at the panelist - called adjudicators.

Please stay tuned.