Working Together for Systemic Change

“Tough on crime” prosecutors are a key driver of mass incarceration described accurately by Michelle Alexander as “the new Jim Crow.” Prosecutors, known as Commonwealth's Attorneys in Virginia, make decisions about who gets prosecuted for what crimes and who gets a plea bargain with little or no public scrutiny or accountability. The result is a system that has perpetuated social, racial, and economic injustices across generations.

Retired public defender Jim Hingeley is elected Commonwealth’s Attorney (CA) in Albemarle County. He promises to use restorative justice to reform the criminal legal system.

In response to advocacy by progressive CAs, the General Assembly makes some changes to the Virginia criminal code allowing for easier diversion of cases for alternative dispositions including restorative justice.

Hingeley hires Samantha Markley and Shannon Pollock Neal MA ‘11 as Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorneys based on their experience with restorative justice.

“In many criminal cases the parties agree about what happened, and the questions change from what happened to: What can be done about it, how can we fix this? What is the harm, and how can the parties address it? In restorative justice people have an opportunity to take responsibility and make things right. Restorative justice offers a more human approach than our current criminal legal system provides.” Shannon Pollock Neal

Shannon Pollock Neal provides a training for the CA office staff to introduce concepts and goals of restorative justice. With Susan Painter, a victim witness advocate with the Albemarle County police department, Shannon plans to attend a multi-day training sponsored by the Department of Criminal Justice Services and supported by the FairField Center. The training is canceled.

Charlottesville-based restorative justice facilitator Bob Garrity facilitates two cases on Zoom. Everyone is surprised and delighted with the results in the online setting.

Bob Garrity teaches in EMU’s Restorative Justice in Education graduate program.

• Without a budget, the defendants have to pay for the restorative justice option. • Are we just replicating the social injustices of the system?

David Saunier MA ‘04 facilitates some cases pro bono.

David Saunier has been a leader in the restorative justice movement in the Charlottesville area for almost 20 years.

Shannon Pollock Neal connects with Amy Knorr MA ‘09, CJP’s peacebuilding practice director, for help. They co-write a grant proposal that includes training from the FairField Center and a mentored program for CJP students to facilitate cases.

“Our proposal was based on legal clinics run by law schools. We are excited about this opportunity for our students to practice restorative justice facilitation and participate in a significant effort to reform the criminal legal system.” Amy Knorr

The CA office submits the proposal to Charlottesville Area Community Foundation’s BAMA Works Fund.

Shannon Pollock Neal and her colleague Samantha Markley organize a community oversight committee. Executive Director Jayne Seminare Docherty and Amy Knorr agree to serve on the committee.

“Building a diverse oversight team is a high priority. This should be a community-led effort that is fair and inclusive of all perspectives. The committee includes the Public Defender, a Spanish interpreter, a victim witness advocate from the police department, and a member of the area's re-entry committee.” Shannon Pollock Neal

• Charlottesville Area Community

Foundation’s BAMA Works Fund awards the CA office $9,000. • The Zehr Institute for Restorative

Justice at CJP agrees to provide $7,500 toward training and monitoring. • The FairField Center contributes by discounting their training rate.

• CJP’s Visiting Associate Professor of Restorative Justice Tarek

Maassarani agrees to work with the project. He brings prior experience with similar projects.

“Support from CJP and the Zehr Institute will strengthen the Albemarle project and provide the academic channels by which to evaluate and propagate its successes to other jurisdictions.” Tarek Maassarani

CJP has submitted one grant and will continue seeking funds to strengthen the mentoring, learning, evaluation, and documentation activities.

“If we had room for pictures, everyone would see a problem with this. Until recently, CJP students from the US have been predominantly white. So, our US alumni are predominantly white. It is extremely easy for well-intentioned white people to engage in reform ‘for’ others and simply replicate the systems of oppression due to their own blind spots. From the start, Shannon and Amy put this problem at the center of the project. Fortunately, our current students will bring more diversity to the diversion program and we are able to partner with local leaders in the community. As a university, we can also support continuous learning and improvement practices and provide tools for monitoring and evaluating programs to catch and correct problems early.”