Loss of this service will hurt us all.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Alan Leiman For The Register-Guard

Lane County's budget woes threaten to derail a proven juvenile crime prevention program that stresses accountability, reparations for victims and community participation.

For the past 14 years, the Restorative Justice Program at Community Mediation Services has partnered with the Lane County Department of Youth Services to deliver a diversion program that offers juvenile offenders the chance to resolve their cases by making reparations, and by learning firsthand how their actions have affected their victims and the community.

It's tragic that as Lane County moves forward with budget cuts that will curtail the criminal justice system's ability to address all but the most serious violations, nonprofit prevention and treatment programs must secure alternative funding or cease operations. The social and economic cost of losing these services will far exceed the cost of providing them.

The concept of restorative justice is straightforward: It focuses on the harm done more than on the law broken.

Restorative justice engages those who are most affected by a criminal act: the victim, the offender and the community. Victims and the community are empowered to decide on a case-by-case basis what constitutes appropriate justice. Offender accountability becomes a meaningful act of giving something positive back to the victims of crime.

When the process works, offenders not only want to make things right with their victims, but also feel a strong disincentive to re-offend because of newly created relationships with the community.

Cases are referred to the Restorative Justice Program at CMS from the juvenile justice system. Volunteer mediators meet with the offender, the victim, and members of the community. The victim is consulted about losses and the effects of crime on his or her life, and is offered a mediation session with the offender.

Face-to-face meetings have a powerful healing effect on victims and instill in offenders a sense of accountability and empathy. If a victim prefers not to meet with the youth, volunteers can stand in and convey to the offender the harm caused by the offender's actions. Roughly 80 percent of offenders who participate in the Restorative Justice Program fully complete their restitution agreements.

The program is proof that a partnership between government and a nonprofit can be effective and cost-efficient. For about $400 per case, the Restorative Justice Program can see a case through to completion. According to the Department of Youth Services, each offender who does not re-offend as a juvenile saves the county approximately $8,700. If that same young person doesn't become an adult offender, the savings are many times greater.

Shrinking budgets have forced the Department of Youth Services to focus on supervision and secure confinement for juvenile offenders who pose the greatest risk to themselves and others. The department would like to continue its partnership with the Restorative Justice Program, but it won't be able to pay for the service.

Each crime committed means more anguish, more loss, and a degraded quality of life. Each crime prevented means more manageable court caseloads, better supervision of offenders, and a safer community with more resources to devote to education, health care and other pressing needs. How much will it cost Lane County if our young people come of age with the belief that there are few or no consequences for anti-social actions?

Meanwhile, the staff and board of directors at CMS are hard at work raising funds to keep the Restorative Justice Program fully staffed and funded after July 1, 2007, when government funding is expected to stop. Ted Lewis, the CMS staffer who manages the program, sees the loss of government funding as "an opportunity to further invest the community in the restorative justice process." CMS has reached out to its volunteers, financial institutions, civic organizations and attorneys. They are hoping to raise $32,000, enough to fund 80 juvenile offender mediations over the next year.

All of us interested in reducing crime need to make sure our elected officials are reminded of the importance of prevention and treatment programs and services, and we must all be willing to step up and contribute to these programs when our government is not.

Alan Leiman is a Eugene attorney and CMS Board member. Information about the Restorative Justice Program at CMS can be obtained from Ted Lewis at [phone].