The courts seek to provide a gentler version of justice, one that forces defendants to acknowledge and atone for the harm their actions have caused, while also providing social services and dismissing the case if the program is completed in the hopes of reducing recidivism and tackling entrenched systemic problems that contribute to the city’s gun violence.
Defendants create art projects, participate in therapy and talk to other participants of the program in “peace circles,” a confidential outlet to discuss the criminal incident, its impact and how to repair harm.Those who most radically buy into the ideas hope to see the courts in every Chicago neighborhood, even perhaps expanding to include some violent crime, though they acknowledge budget issues and public opinion limit the options.
He was charged in July 2022, and his case was transferred to the Englewood restorative justice court in August. He’s been moving through the program for the past year.“So you’re really close,” Judge Donna Cooper told him, adding that he will likely graduate soon.Between 2020 and 2022, more than 200 people were admitted to the restorative justice programs in Cook County, more than 80% on a weapons possession charge.
As of March, of the 218 participants admitted since 2020, about 3% were found guilty and about 43% had their charges dropped or dismissed. The rest were still pending.Restorative justice is an old concept, practiced in many Indigenous communities that have used the peace circle format to resolve an array of community disputes, said Seng. His class works mostly with student populations, and has seen reductions in truancy and behavioral issues, he said.
A tenet of the county’s program is a “repair-of-harm agreement” that the participants work toward as they work through the program. They participate in peace circles that sometimes involve victims or community members who have been harmed, even indirectly, by the criminal incident.“Typically they’ve never really had people to talk to, never really had a voice,” Cooper said of the participants. “It’s like the first time people sat down and asked to be listened to.
Some participants engage more than others. During court hearings, the judges sometimes have to prod defendants to pick up their phones, or call back when jobs or case workers leave voicemails. They sometimes use the hearings to workshop problems with communication or other areas causing them to stagnate.
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