This week I was given information regarding a National Crime Symposium taking place in New Orleans, LA. I am eager to see if I will be able to afford going later this month. The key note speakers seem very knowledgeable in several areas in the field of RJ and juvenile justice. I would hope to make some connections there in order to broaden the scope of speakers we are looking for for the potential RJ Conference in the coming years. It is important to always see what news is trending in this field, as it is always changing. Also, new people with innovative ideas are always popping up.
I have also been trying to get mediators on a couple of new cases we have received. I would love to get these cases completed as soon as possible. DYS has been on top of us regarding getting the agreements fulfilled (or not) in a timely manner. Not to say that they do not understand the several issues that prevent us from doing timely work on a daily basis, but our problems are usually related to the youth being lazy. It sounds bad to say that, but usually the kids are just procrastinating. So for me, there is only so much that I can do to encourage them to hurry up their community service hours or restitution payments. Restitution is also tricky, given the economic downturn. Many folks do not have the extra funds to pay for the neighbor's window that their child broke on top of everything else in their lives. For me, I just try and make things clear about what will happen if they do not fulfill the agreement they created.
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