{"id":621,"date":"2019-02-27T13:18:58","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T18:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=621"},"modified":"2019-02-27T13:19:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T18:19:00","slug":"vermonters-of-the-month-court-diversion-program-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/vermonters-of-the-month-court-diversion-program-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermonters of the Month: Court Diversion Program Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Attorney General T.J. Donovan with Anne Conway, Lamoille County Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is a monthly series in which the\nAttorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their\ncommunity. Have someone you think should be featured? Email <\/em>AGO.CAP@vermont.gov<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are honoring, as our February Vermonters of the Month, the\n271 volunteers who generously give their time to Vermont\u2019s Court Diversion\nprograms. This year, Vermont Court Diversion programs celebrate their 40th<\/sup>\nanniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court Diversionis\na restorative alternative to the traditional criminal justice system for\nindividuals charged with a crime.\nAfter police issue a citation for violating the law, the state\u2019s attorney\ndecides whether to refer the person out of the court system to the\ncommunity-based Court Diversion program. Volunteers are a critical component of\nthis program\u2019s success. They meet as a restorative panel to hear the needs of\nvictims, learn the underlying factors in the individual\u2019s life that contributed\nto the crime, and create an opportunity for the individual to take\nresponsibility for their actions, repair harm to victims, and rebuild connections\nto their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We had the pleasure of speaking with\ntwo amazing volunteers, Anne Conway of Lamoille Restorative Center<\/a> and Linda\nBrown of Windsor County Court Diversion<\/a>,  about\ntheir experiences with Court Diversion and to learn about what drives their passion\nfor volunteerism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne Conway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in Hardwick, raised in Morrisville, transplanted to\nBoston\u2014Anne Conway returned to Morrisville after 28 years away from her home\nstate of Vermont. Anne has been actively volunteering in different capacities\nfor nine years and was honored in February as Lamoille County Chamber of\nCommerce\u2019s Volunteer of the Year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court Diversion\nfollows a restorative justice model: what does restorative justice mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen people who\u2019ve made unwise decisions and hurt others,\nas well as themselves, take responsibility for what they did and then repair\nthat harm. To me, that is restorative justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has court\ndiversion\/restorative justice impacted your community? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, it helps to make our community safer. I have personally\nwitnessed individuals who have valued this second chance provided by Diversion\nand moved forward in their life on a positive path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you share a story\nof a memorable panel meeting or related-experience that has had a lasting\nimpact on you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember one participant who had allowed alcohol to become\nforemost in their life – this led to an arrest, an unpleasant divorce, divided\ncustody of children, and the destruction of their career.  One part of the person\u2019s agreement was to\nwrite a letter of \u2018apology\u2019 to their family. When the participant returned for\nthe second visit, they read a very sincere and touching letter of apology,\nregret and resolve. In addition, the person had found a part-time job and was\nin recovery. As a panel member, I valued seeing the positive results of our\nprogram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on your\nexperience as a volunteer, have you observed a change in the program over the\ncourse of your experience?  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have seen more creative ways for an offender to\ncorrect the harm they did and improve their view of themselves and the\ncommunity in which they live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What impact, if any,\nhas being a Court Diversion volunteer had on your life? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most satisfying aspect of my panel participation is that\nI am reminded that we are all in \u2018this\u2019 together and that we can make a\ndifference in the lives of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda\nBrown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Anne, Linda Brown was born and raised in Vermont but\nleft the state as a young adult to pursue a career in New York City. Linda\nreturned to her hometown of Springfield after 30+ years away to care for her\nmother. Since then, she has been volunteering with the Court Diversion program\nfor more than 15 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you share a story\nof a memorable panel meeting or related-experience that has had a lasting\nimpact on you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panel meetings are all very interesting, but the thing that\nhad the most lasting impact on me was a dynamic class given to us volunteers\ncalled “Bridges Out of Poverty.” It helped me to understand many of\nthe people who come to Diversion and increased my level of compassion for them.\nI truly believe we must have compassion to work well with people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court Diversion\nfollows a restorative justice model: what does restorative justice mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restorative justice means to me that a client admits his or\nher mistake and does something, such as repaying victims or writing an apology\nletter, to make things right as best they can. I believe all these actions can\nimprint in a person’s brain and reduce recidivism. And, it certainly helps\nreduce the backlog of cases in the State of Vermont’s court systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on your\nexperience as a volunteer, have you observed a change in the program over the\ncourse of your experience?  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most notable change in Court Diversion for me was when\nparticipants started to stay in the room while we discussed the restorative\nagreement. When I first started to volunteer, after we had met with the person,\nthey would step out while we developed a preliminary plan. At first, I did not\nlike this new way. However, I now feel that the participant is more apt to\ncomplete the contract that he or she was involved in making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What impact, if any,\nhas being a Court Diversion volunteer had on your life? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My advice to others looking to make an impact in their\ncommunity is to volunteer! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you interested in\nbecoming a Court Diversion program volunteer? Contact your nearest\nprogram<\/a> to learn more. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a monthly series in which the Attorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their community. Have someone you think should be featured? Email AGO.CAP@vermont.gov. We are honoring, as our February Vermonters of the Month, the 271 volunteers who generously give their time to Vermont\u2019s Court Diversion programs. This year, Vermont Court… Continue reading Vermonters of the Month: Court Diversion Program Volunteers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4519,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[505532,481474,505445],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-vermonterofthemonth","tag-consumer","tag-vermonter-of-the-month","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":623,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}