I have now been at CMS for over a year and case work has been going great! I have handled enough cases now that I feel extremely comfortable with my role here as RJ intern. One aspect of my work this fall that I am trying to work on is mediating cases. Unfortunately, DYS has not been giving us enough cases to make this happen. As soon as we get another RJ case in, I intend on jumping aboard.
This week I did make several calls to parents/offenders regarding restitution and community service. A few of our cases have been dragging on for over a year due to inability to pay the restitution amount off. Part of the problem I think is that we have no control over the deadline. Although the parties agree to a certain date for the restitution to be paid, it usually is never turned in on time. For the victims, this can be a very hard reality. Often times, it appears that financial hardship is the main factor.
For me, it is hard to pester families to pay up when I know it is such hard times for most people. On the other end of the spectrum however, the victims are generally just as strained, and perhaps more so in the wake of a crime that may have cost them money to repair. RJ is not an easy field to navigate, but it has definitely given me the opportunity to see the case from both the side of the offender and victim.
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