Community Justice Center

VISION:

VORP/CJC is motivated by the biblical vision of shalom (whole-making peace). We see this as existing when there are right relations between fellow human beings, and between people and God.

Restorative justice is a way to embody this biblical vision in very practical ways. Through Restorative justice practices, the community and its people can be empowered to manage their own conflicts. This can be done before further legal and/or political action may be needed.

Thus the community can become constructively involved in addressing people’s own injustices and/or divided social interests. By doing so, the community and the state can work together for the welfare of the people they are committed to serving.

MISSION:

Our mission is to motivate and support our community to actively engage in restorative justice when crime occurs.

VORP OVERVIEW:

PROCESS:

VORP/CJC cases are referred directly by the court. During a VORP/CJC meeting a trained facilitator brings together victims, offenders and their respective supporters. Everyone discusses: 

• What happened
• How everyone has been affected
• How to resolve the matter and prevent it from happening again (written agreement).

If the agreement is completed, then the case is closed. If the agreement is not completed, then the case gets returned to the court to be processed in the usual manner. 

Since everyone affected by the incident is included in deciding how to repair the harm, compliance with the community conferencing agreements is extremely high (over 95%).

Impact

• Delivers an immediate, meaningful response to crime
• Reduces recidivism
• Holds offenders accountable for their action
• Highly cost effective
• Includes victims in deciding outcomes

Benefits

The Victims

• Take part in the process of justice
• Ask questions about the offense
• Explain how they were affected
• Receive compensation for their loss

The Offenders

• Take personal accountability and responsibility for actions
• Realize the impact of his/her actions on the victim
• Apologize directly to the victim
• Get an opportunity to make things right

The Community

• Decreases the likelihood of future offenses
• Saves the court both valuable time and money, thus saving taxpayers money
• A low-cost means of resolving a significant number of cases
• An opportunity to increase family participation

GET INVOLVED:

• REQUEST US For victims and offenders, mention to your attorney or representative that you would like to be a part of this program
• INVITE US to give a presentation to your church or community organization about our work
• SUPPORT US with your gifts and your good word