Neighborhood Justice Program

WHAT IS THE NEIGHBORHOOD JUSTICE PROGRAM?

The Neighborhood Justice Program is a community driven, pre-filing diversion program designed to divert low level misdemeanor offenses from entering the criminal justice system.

First time offenders are given an opportunity to take responsibility and repair the harm they caused through a community-based process using restorative justice principles instead of a courtroom.

The Neighborhood Justice Program addresses criminal violations that impact the quality of life in the community and provides an alternative to entering into criminal court.

The purpose of the program is to: reduce recidivism by understanding why people offend, address the harm the offense had on the victim (if applicable) and the community and, using restorative principles rather than punitive principles, effectively and efficiently restore the local community, victim and offender back into community.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Are you interested in being a part of the Neighborhood Justice Program?
Join our volunteer team! Neighborhood Justice volunteers are essential to the success of the program. Our volunteers serve as panelists. They are community members trained in restorative justice, cultural competency, effective communication, facilitation, and problem solving skills. The District Attorney’s Office strives to create a diverse group of volunteer panelists throughout the County of Santa Cruz who are from different diverse socioeconomic, cultural, gender, age, and professional backgrounds.

Requirements to become a volunteer panelist:

• Complete the application
• Pass a background check (Immigrant status will not be checked)
• Two-year time commitment (1 year if student)
• Attend 17+ hours of Panelist Training (training dates and times to be announced)

Commitment as a volunteer panelist:

• Attend monthly volunteer meeting (Currently held on the last Thursday of the month from 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.)
• Participate as an observer in a minimum of two Neighborhood Justice Conferences
• Participate as a panelist in Neighborhood Justice Conferences approximately once every 2 months
• Participate in at least 4 of 8 additional trainings a year

** Volunteer panelists monthly time commitment is between 2-3 hrs. a month**

“I really felt heard and I had not expressed all the layers of what happened and I liked the way the panelist opened questions in a non judgmental fashion. I had wanted to share my story because there were so many layers to unpack and I really appreciated the feelings I had when it was over. I think the program and the conference space is such an asset to the community and I’m thankful for the program. I hope it grows and gets more employees on the team because it does feel restorative”  

“I like that the panelists made me feel like this is a welcoming safe space to not be judged, but to see where we could repair the incident and prevent it from happening again and all from a very human approach which felt nice. Thank you guys for everything you do, I can't thank you guys enough for seeing the good in people”

“The feedback and questions from the panel expanded my perspective and I had to think in ways I had not entirely explored previously. Specifically the responses from the members created an opportunity to think about the impact on different members and gave me a more open heart”