It’s Not Hard If We Do It Together: Reducing Re-arrest Through Community-Led, Police-Initiated Restorative Justice Diversion Tailored for Youth with guests Kara Beckman, Cynthia Prosek, and Gio Veliz

Kara Beckman, Cynthia Prosek, and Gio Veliz join the podcast to share the findings from their recent paper Reducing Re-arrest Through Community-Led, Police-Initiated Restorative Justice Diversion Tailored for Youth.

We discuss the challenges of working with a wide range of stakeholders to improve outcomes for youth as well as the many benefits of this restorative, collaborative approach.

Paper Abstract: Restorative justice diversion aligns with youths’ developmental needs more than traditional approaches. However, there is a research gap regarding its effectiveness among diverse youth, and when initiated by police. This study evaluated misdemeanor cases that occurred in Minneapolis between September 2014 and December 2018 finding that youth who participated in restorative justice diversion after arrest were less likely to experience re-arrest in the following year compared to those processed traditionally. Positive program impacts for Black and American Indian youth demonstrate RJ diversion can be effective with diverse youth while differences in rates of successful diversion by participating community agency highlight opportunities for further study. This study demonstrates the importance of continuing to understand and expand restorative justice diversion with youth.

Beckman, K. J., Jewett, P. I., Gacad, A., & Borowsky, I. W. (2024). Reducing Re-arrest Through Community-Led, Police-Initiated Restorative Justice Diversion Tailored for Youth. Crime & Delinquency, 70(10), 2780-2802. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287231158569

GUEST BIOS:

Kara Beckman is a Researcher at the University of Minnesota’s Healthy Youth Development * Prevention Research Center. She partners with school- and community-based restorative practitioners to develop meaningful approaches to learn about restorative justice implementation, effectiveness, and the potential to transform systems. Kara is a mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend, a life-long learner, a listener, and an aspiring warrior and healer, as Angela Davis calls us to be. When able, she fills her soul by being near water or in forests, growing and cooking good food, sharing time with family and friends or attending Lynx games.

Gio Veliz is a servant leader with over 29.5 years of service in the public sector. As a prior commander of the juvenile unit of the Minneapolis Police Department, he is an accomplished, inclusive, and collaborative leader, building trust and relationships with state, local government, universities, non-profits and community sectors. He leads multidisciplinary teams with a procedural justice philosophy to provide fairness to our most vulnerable community members.

Cynthia Prosek has over 25 years of restorative justice practice. As executive director of Restorative Justice Community Action (RJCA), Cynthia leads a trajectory of growth, expanding services and deepening community engagement in restorative justice practices. She draws on the knowledge and wisdom of community, collaborating with a network of volunteers, practitioners, leaders, and agencies to promote community well-being. Cynthia promotes and implements new programming through a lens of race equity as the means to transform the criminal legal system and redefine public safety as rooted in community.