The Restorative Justice Program of Neighbor to Neighbor is designed to address some of the needs of the harmed party which are often unmet in the criminal justice system.
This process can include a meeting between you, your parents or guardians (if applicable), the harmed party, and a facilitator, which will provide you with an opportunity to:
- Take responsibility for your actions and involvement in the case
- Work through the situation by “making it right” directly with the harmed party, and, if needed,
- Work out a written agreement for restitution and/or other repair steps.
Neighbor to Neighbor arranges for meetings between the Harmed Party (HP) and you – the Responsible Party (RP), assists in finding answers to problems caused by harmful actions, and assists in developing restitution contracts. We monitor your case until restitution is fulfilled and will intervene if problems arise.
Neighbor to Neighbor does NOT do the following:
- Supervise the Responsible Party. Supervision, if imposed, remains the responsibility of the, i.e. Juvenile Department, District Attorney’s office, etc.
- Enforce restitution agreements. If the agreement reached in dialogue is not fulfilled, the case will be referred back to the referring agency.
- Guarantee agreements or fulfillment of agreements. We will do our best to assist, but the ultimate fulfillment of the agree-ment depends on the parties’ willingness to make it work.
In order to prepare for your restorative process, we ask that you:
- Think about the situation, what happened, what impact it has had in your life and how you feel about it now.
- Be prepared to tell the other party what happened, to answer their questions, to share your feelings, and to hear how the situation has affected the other party.
- Contact the facilitator or our office if you have further questions or if any problems develop in the fulfillment of the restitution agreement.
We know that facing a person you’ve harmed is not an easy thing to do, but it has helped many people in your situation to experience growth and positive accountability. Many people who were harmed have also found it helpful.
The meeting is organized and led by a neutral, trained, community volunteer facilitator. This person is present to facilitate communication and agreement, not to make decisions or impose a settlement.
Occasionally, it is impossible for person(s) to come to a satisfactory settlement in a meeting. If this happens, your case will be referred back to the referring agency.
This is a voluntary process
Participation in this process is voluntary. Program staff and volunteers are not judges and cannot enforce any particular outcome. A participant may choose to withdraw from the restorative justice process at any time.
This is a confidential process
Restorative justice meetings and all related communications shall be confidential; parties cannot subpoena program staff or volunteers to testify or produce records at any proceeding.
“Confidential” means that all communications during the intake, preparation, dialogue, and follow-up phases of the process, including documents developed during any of these phases, shall remain confidential, non-discoverable, and inadmissible for any purpose in any legal proceeding, subject to the following exceptions:
- Statements made regarding child or elder abuse, or regarding threats to commit serious injury to self or others that is likely to result in death.
- Information already known before the restorative justice process does not become confidential through disclosure during the process.
- The referral agency may request to see the Restorative Agreement if one is created, and will be notified at the close of the case, as to whether it is complete, or returned incomplete.
- For reporting, research, training, or educational purposes, Neighbor to Neighbor staff and volunteers can:
- state whether the process resulted in an Agreement and successful completion of Agreement items
- provide anonymized information for statistical purposes
- talk confidentially with program staff and volunteers about what happened for advice and learning purposes
- retain records of the case in accordance with program policies and procedures.
Communication about the case from Neighbor to Neighbor to the Court and to any attorneys involved in the case will be limited to: Still Open, Completed Successfully, or Returned Incomplete.
This is a non-legal process. Program staff and volunteers cannot give legal advice.