Justice Program Focuses on Youths
Barron County Becomes a Model for Other Programs
Polly Wolner’s eyes are
fixed on the blank computer screen. Her hands move as she speaks into the
telephone caught between her head and shoulder.
It’s Monday morning at
Barron County Restorative Justice Programs office in Rice Lake, and Wolner
is working to keep a wayward teen-ager out of the justice system.
“He’s a good kid,”
she said, leaning into the conversation.
Wolner is executive
director of BCRJP, and her entreaty could mean the difference between
whether the student is allowed to return to school or is prosecuted. It is
all in a day’s work for Wolner, and she does not take it lightly.
After a full work week,
Wolner and a BCRJP volunteer spent Sunday mediating a conference between
the remorseful teen and several upset adults. Still, she brims with
enthusiasm, ready to go to bat for what she believes: that restorative
rather than retributive justice and discipline can reduce the number of
people who are brought into the justice system, keep kids in school and
tighten community bonds.
Judge Edward Brunner
introduced the restorative justice concept to Barron County in 1999, and
Wolner has led BCRJP since February 2000. The county’s program began
with Victim Offender Con-ferencing, Victim Impact Panels and Teen Court,
which has expanded to include Prime for Life for first-time, underage
drinkers and Youth Educational Shoplifting Program.
Today Barron County’s
restorative justice and school discipline programs are modeled in other
states, and Wolner is a sought-after speaker at schools and conventions.
“We’re known,” said
Wolner, who credits the program’s success to those who are vested in it:
“The district attorney, the police, Department of Corrections,
Department of Health and Human Services, the schools, circuit court,
municipal courts and our [120-plus] volunteers,” she said. “It’s
all-encompassing, and it’s all of Barron County, not just Rice Lake.”
Victim-Offender Conferencing
Victim-Offender
Conferencing was implemented in February 2000.
The methodology offers the victim an opportunity to meet with the
offender to hear and tell their stories and have a say in how restitution
is made. The goal is to repair the harm and return normalcy to the
community.
Last year, 120 cases were
referred to BCRJP for victim-offender conferencing, a number “unheard of
for a small community,” she said.
“I don’t know that
all of those are cases that would have gone to court, but more and more
people are seeing this as a viable alternative,” said Wolner.
“Sometimes we do conferencing after a case has been to court, and we
take cases from every step of the process.
“There are so many
victims and offenders who do know each other,” she said.
In either case, crime
creates an unnatural, unhealthy relationship that leaves victims to live
with fear and unanswered questions. VOC increases victim satisfaction by
providing them with a chance to seek answers to their questions and find
closure, said Brunner.
“When the offender has
to look directly at the person they’ve hurt and the victim gets to
determine the terms of restitution, that’s accountability,” said
Wolner. “No other way is. No punch card, no detention. It gets to hold
them directly accountable for what they did.”
Victim Impact Panel
Victims tell their
stories at quarterly Victim Impact Panels, which are mandatory for anyone
who is charged with drunk driving in Barron County. The panels are founded
on sharing rather than shaming and now include an opportunity for the
audience to speak with panelists. They are designed to teach offenders
that when they drive drunk, they risk
hurting someone who is very much like themselves, not some faceless
government entity.
Washburn and Rusk
counties also refer all drunk driving offenders to the panel, which
generates about $12,000 per year for the program, Wolner said.
Teen Court and Primed for Life
Teen Court began in 2001.
The program allows first-time, teen-age offenders to plead guilty to
charges of underage drinking, possession of marijuana, disorderly conduct,
disorderly conduct with a motor vehicle, theft, destruction of property,
trespassing and curfew violations.
Sanctions are meted out
by peers and always include future Teen Court jury duty. Those who
successfully complete their sanctions have no criminal records.
“It’s kind of
gathering momentum,” said Wolner, crediting Janis Bridges, program
manager for Teen Court and VOC.
That momentum includes
two nationally recognized programs: Youth Educational Shoplifting Program
and Prime for Life.
YES is a self-study
program designed to reduce the number of youths coming into the juvenile
justice system and repeat offenses.
Teen-age shoplifters
often say that the high they experience from shoplifting is more rewarding
than possessing the items
they steal.
YES combines home study
and class workshops to teach how to break the addiction, how shoplifting
affects people rather than stores, the law and its consequences and risk
versus reward.
Prime for Life is a risk
assessment program from the Prevention Research Institute of Kentucky for
teens who face underage drinking charges for the first time.
Kids pay $35 to take the
12-hour course that is based on self-evaluation and reflection and equips
youths to prevent future substance abuse.
“The kids have a
choice: Only once though. It’s a one-time deal,” said Wolner.
The course is taught by
Amy Whitwam, guidance counselor at Chetek School District; Karen Chilson
of CESA 11; Shelley Hammes, AODA counselor at St. Croix Tribal Clinic;
Barney Slowey, educational consultant; and Mary Nietzel of the Eau Claire
Department of Corrections. Each is certified to teach the material and a
“premiere educator,” said Wolner.
Referring agencies are
notified when offenders complete the course, although course completion
does not guarantee that fines
and other consequences will be reduced.
“The whole point is to
get kids so they don’t do this risky behavior,”
said Wolner. “You can fine a kid, and they pay their fine and
they lose their license, and then where are we with these kids? Maybe we
should give them some information to help them make more informed
choices.”
Offenders who do not go
to Prime for Life face license suspensions or revocations, fines and
higher insurance rates, she said.
Last year, 54 kids chose
to appear in Teen Court in lieu of other sanctions. Thirty-four teens
volunteered to train for the program.
Teen Court judges are
Kathryn Ault, municipal judge of Cumberland; Al Bitz, retired Rice Lake
police officer and Dave Dhein, retired Wisconsin Department of Corrections field supervisor for Northwestern Wisconsin.
Future
Last year, Wolner spoke
at the National Training for the Federal Government in Ft. Lauderdale,
Fla.; Wisconsin Association of School Boards in Milwaukee; the Wisconsin
Association for Middle Level Educators;
and the Alabama Judges Conference.
She trained staff and
employees at CESA 11 and Rawhide Boys Ranch for Adjudicated Youth, and she
helped set up restorative justice programs at Vilas, Lee and Dodge
counties and the River Falls and New Richmond school districts.
Wolner has presented the
philosophy of restorative justice, trained
community members in specific programming or provided conferencing
assistance in 12 counties, including Dodge, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire,
Forest, Jefferson, Marathon, Oneida, Pierce, St. Croix, Taylor and
Washburn.
She also advises judges
and others who are starting Restorative Justice programs.
“Part of what makes the
training so effective is the amount of follow-up [Wolner] does,” said
office manager Katherine Lund. “People know that they can turn to her
for thoughtful answers about how to get restorative justice programs
going.”
BCRJP and Rice Lake Boys
and Girls Club have applied for a community service program grant
to fund meaningful projects for high school students, Boys and
Girls Club members and youths that go through Teen Court.
Restorative School Practices
“Elementary is the
perfect age [to introduce restorative practices],” said Wolner.
Wolner and BCRJP staff
and volunteers have trained staff at Rice Lake, Cumberland, Cameron,
Barron, Chetek and Prairie Farm school districts in Restorative Practices.
All have adopted
restorative disciplinary practices at some level, and Barron has adopted
the whole school concept. Other districts are moving in that direction.
“It’s about having an
entire school make the shift from retributive to restorative practices,”
she said.
The philosophy is based
on a strong community and uses methods like circling to avoid conflict and
victim-offender conferencing to
resolve those that do arise.
“It’s not all about
problems. It’s about building community, so if a problem arises, they
can deal with it,” said Wolner.
Discipline
Restorative discipline
holds children accountable for their behavior while providing plenty of
control and support, unlike retributive discipline, which focuses on the
punishment and provides little support.
“Kids can change,”
said Wolner, stressing that the introduction of an asset can interrupt
undesirable trends.
“All the research shows
that if you intervene, you can shift their course and their level of risk
goes down,” she said, stopping the upward movement of one arm with the
other.
“You don’t change the
home environment. I’m an advocate of shifting how you deal with kids in
school, because you can change their behavior by sitting down and having
communication with them.”
“You create a sense of
community—they have ownership. You give them a chance to talk and learn
about each other. When kids belong, they don’t offend. Or if they do
something stupid, you give them a chance to do something restorative. You
don’t throw them away.”
Funding
Funding for BCRJP’s
current $172,000 budget comes from a hodgepodge of sources that includes
$48,000 from Barron County, contributions from Rice Lake, Cumberland,
Cameron and Barron school districts, $4,000 from United Way of Rice Lake
and several grants, Wolner said.
The organization received
$100,000 of federal funds last year to assess truancy in Grades K-12 at
Rice Lake, Cumberland, Cameron and Barron and develop prevention programs.
It now seeks social workers to develop that program with Barron County
Department of Health and Human Services and the schools.
“It’s to bring
restorative practices into dealing with kids at risk,” she said.
“Truancy is only a symptom. When you track truancy, you start to see
some patterns.
“Truancy is an entry
point to intervene with families and start interacting with them and keep
them out of the system.”