Week 4- Oct. 15th

This week I communicated with parents quite a bit regarding their sons' cases. I was able to confirm a couple of road crew assignments. I also was able to close three cases this week! I am very happy to be able to do this because it has taken forever for the community service organizations to show me proof of hours for some  of the boys who are in the program. I am constantly on the phone with people and leaving messages to get information. I have really grown to be more patient in this job. I realize, that although it is a very big part of my position here to close cases for this individuals in a timely manner (per their agreement due dates), I am still dealing with folks who have their own jobs; which are often completely unrelated to what I am trying to achieve. Consequently, I have developed a stronger sense of patience.

Furthermore, I have realized that through contacting many agencies, whether it is a parent's work or an organization for community service, I think I have developed even stronger communication skills. I have experience running a switchboard and talking on the phone all day, but I think that this particular experience here at CMS has really shaped me into an effective communicator over the phone.

Another great aspect about getting cases closed, is that we will be able to get more new cases in the system from DYS. Unfortunately, I hear that they are unable to do so at this time. We are suspecting that we will get a heavy load of them all at once, which is great!

Week 3- October 8th-12th

This week at CMS, I tried to schedule community service for a case with three offenders who need to do over 40 hours each as part of their restitution. One thing I have taken from this case and others like it, is that even the adult victims in some case are not as responsible as I would hope. Often times, the people who come to mediate who represent the city or other organizations that have been harmed, do not follow-up very well. The main cause for this I have found is lack of time in their schedules. Most of the time I do not blame these individuals, because honestly, I am just grateful they even accepted to participate. However, I do find it unprofessional and somewhat disrespectful for professionals in the city to come to mediation, create an agreement with a youth, and then not even respond to follow up calls on how they would like the agreement to be handled.
On the bright side, I was able to get all three of the boys scheduled for work crew as part of their agreement.  Furthermore, one of the boys already finished his two days with the work crew, and his mother reported that he really enjoyed it. He was able to help clean up by a waterfall and had fun even. I am glad to see that these kids are being hard workers and even enjoying their time helping the community.

Week Two- October 1st - September 5th

This week at CMS, I did my usual routine of calling offenders/parents regarding restitution and community service. Additionally, I spent some time updating the RJ Bible that goes over all of our procedures and forms. I also created a facebook page for the Restorative Justice Program at CMS. Here, I will be posting news articles in RJ and growing public interest in RJ practices. Furthermore, I have been doing normal casework duties such as file work. Lastly, the monthly DYS report was due, and I completed it by updating cases and closing the appropriate ones.

CMS is has recently been approved for a grant to fund Teen Court! I have been excited to offer some of my internship hours there to help out with this effort. I think that my work with teens in any realm will prepare me for what I ultimately would like to do in my career path.

I am really enjoying my comfort level at CMS. I am eager to get more cases from DYS to help mediate. My experience mediating so far has been such a great time.

Week One- Sept. 24-29

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.

Week 10- November28

This final week at CMS has been so informative for me. I finally feel like I have learned how to master the MadTrack data input program. I feel so much more comfortable with all the cases and where they need to be filed. Monday I sent out a few pre-intake letters to offenders, called and reminded an offender of his restitution agreement, and called mediators to check up on their case development. I am very eager to come back and gain more hands on experience in observing a victim-offender mediation. I am also excited to help my advisor make some streamlining changes. It is now important to the program that every document is as user friendly as possible as well as excluding information that is unnecessary and keeping info that is. I  have truly appreciated the experience this opportunity has given me in such a short time, and I know I will only learn more in the future months volunteering there.

Week 9- November 21st

For this week's time at CMS I focused on expunging cases, finding mediators, locating offenders, and observing my first intake. It was an exciting week. I am very excited to be able to follow a case from beginning to end. This case also happens to have several offenders and will be able to offer me a good grasp of what actually happens in mediations in RJ. The mediators are experienced and will show me many techniques that I can choose to use for myself. I was also happy to have worked with the school to track down an offender we have been trying to find for weeks. Today I was also able to allot a mediator to a new case that came in last week. I am so eager to get in there and learn. I am also going to be closing more cases and expunging their files.This process is nice, it reduces the paperwork down to the necessities. Overall, I had a very informative and eventful week. I hope there will be many more like it!

Week 8- November 14th/15th

This week was great for me. I was able to open a new file from the beginning. I think this will help me in remembering who is who by active participation from the get-go, rather than catch-up like I have been doing for a while. Another activity I enjoyed was closing cases in Madtrack. There is a definite feeling of completeness when you print out the closing letter, and you know that the offender has done what they needed to do to fulfill the agreement. I also drafted and recorded some important letters to victims and offenders. We are planning on keeping a binder of important documents on hand, to make things easier in the future. I was also happy to hear positive progress with some of the offenders I spoke with. Receiving restitution was another task I had yet to do. I have learned much about this process and how it works at CMS. I feel like I have finally turned the corner on understanding tasks and duties of the job. I am also very excited about the opportunity to observe an intake and potential mediation next week! Good week.