Stories of our Work

Noise Violation Gone Bad

*All names have been changed to protect the identities of the participants.

Restorative Response Baltimore (formerly the Community Conferencing Center) receives referrals from The Baltimore City Police, Department of Juvenile Services, Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office, Schools, School Police, and Neighborhood Associations.  Never has a request for a Community Conference been made by the actual person who was arrested…until now.

Loud Music

A young mother by the name of Keisha moved into her neighborhood about six months ago.  She was happy to finally have her own space after living with her parents while raising her 14-year-old daughter, Jasmine.  Keisha has lots of friends and invites them over regularly to listen to loud music in the house.  One night, the music was so loud she couldn’t hear her next-door neighbors knocking.

It wasn’t the first time Frank and Aida had knocked on Keisha’s door to ask her to turn down the music.  As a last resort, they called the police for help.  What started out as a routine noise violation call for Officer Pitts ended up with two arrests.  Officer Pitts repeatedly asked everyone to stop yelling, but things escalated to the point where Keisha was arrested for threatening Frank and Aida and Jasmine was arrested for interfering with her mother’s arrest and placing her hands on Officer Pitts.

Community-based Alternative to Court

At Juvenile Booking, Keisha learned that Jasmine was eligible for a court diversion program called Teen Court.  At that time Keisha also learned about Community Conferencing–that allows groups of people to talk about what happened, how everyone has been affected, and to collectively decide how to best reconcile the matter.  So when Keisha requested a Community Conference in the hopes of resolving things with her neighbors, the CCC agreed to proceed with the referral.

At first Frank and Aida were confused when the Community Conferencing facilitator knocked on their door.  “We have a court date scheduled for the end of the month to deal with the situation.  So if we participate in a Community Conference, does that mean we don’t have to go to court?”  The facilitator explained that, because Restorative Response Baltimore did not have any formal agreement with the adult court regarding this matter, the Community Conference would likely have no bearing on the court proceedings.  However, if an agreement was reached at the Community Conference, she could take that agreement to court to see if it might have a bearing on the court outcome.  Keisha still wanted to have the conference in order to reconcile things with Frank and Aida.  They all agreed to meet with the intent to resolve the situation.

The following week, everyone gathered at the Recreation Center down the street from their homes with the understanding that each person attending the Community Conference wanted to make the situation better.

Keisha brought Larry, who lived nearby, for support.  Keisha started the Community Conference by sharing how she wants to have fun and enjoy her newfound freedom.  She liked to party and listen to loud music and how that’s a big part of living on her own.  She expressed her dismay at Frank and Aida calling the police.  Larry added, “Why did you have to go and call the police?”

Aida explained that knocking usually worked but this time it didn’t work so they called 911 as a last resort.  The couple described the scene, including the way Keisha was screaming and spitting at them.  That’s when Larry ran up and started arguing with the Officer Pitts.  Frank commented that he couldn’t believe the mouth Keisha had on her that night.  “You were out of control.  I don’t know if you were drunk or what – but you said you wanted to kill us!  You had no right to threaten our lives, Keisha!”  Officer Pitts couldn’t get her to calm down and stop flailing her arms so he handcuffed her.  That’s when Jasmine interfered with the arrest and got handcuffed as well.  “We didn’t want you to get arrested.  We just wanted to get your attention so that we could talk to you about your loud music.  The BOOM BOOM BOOM gives Aida a headache and at 1 am we can’t get to sleep,” added Frank.

“I lost my temper and didn’t mean you any harm, Frank.  When I get angry I just lose my mind, and I admit I was wrong.  I shouldn’t have said that to you.  I’m sorry.”

“We were young once and we understand what it’s like to want to have fun.  We just want you to try to keep it down before 11 o’clock at night,” emphasized Aida.  Keisha agreed with this request, and Aida invited her to come over the next time it’s really loud so she could hear it for herself.  The four of them also exchanged phone numbers to make it easier to contact each other with any future concerns.

A few weeks later the facilitator followed up with Aida and Frank; they acknowledged the music volume was no longer an issue after 11 o’clock.

Keisha took her agreement to court with her and the judge dismissed the case.  Imagine how differently the neighbors would be interacting if Keisha hadn’t requested a Community Conference.

Alternative to Suspension Saves 17 Students’ Academic Careers

* All names have been changed to protect the identities of the participants

Out of control…

Principal Williams called Restorative Response Baltimore (formerly CCC) after 17 of his students were involved in two fights.  The first fight took place in the cafeteria where rumors fueled a fight between two groups of boys.  The principal would later describe the scene as “out of control”.  The only way school police officers could break up the fight and disperse the crowd was to use mace.  Ten young men were identified as “involved”.  Within half an hour, another fight broke out in the gym, this time involving sisters and girlfriends of some of the young men from the initial fight.  By the end of the day, 17 students were in need of disciplinary action.

Calling Community Conferencing

Principal Williams later admitted that his first reaction was to propose all 17 for suspension.  However, as a result of his agreement with Restorative Response to use conferencing instead of suspension whenever possible, he called the CCC in hopes of some assistance.  He placed all of the students on “excused leave” until the Community Conference was scheduled.

The Community Conferencing facilitator spent much of the week speaking with the 17 students and their families.  It became clear that students fell into one of two sides of this incident.  Most of the families were upset their children were out of school.  Some parents, through their child’s account of what happened, were angry with the administration and viewed the meeting as a “complete waste of time”.  Many questioned what would be accomplished.  The facilitator continued to explain a Community Conference allow everyone to come together to:

• hear what happened
• talk about how they have been affected, and
• come up with a written agreement to resolve things

43 participants

The following week, 43 people assembled in the school library for the Community Conference.  The 17 students, their families, Mr. Williams, Ms. Carey (the assistant principal), the school police officer and a teacher all sat in the large circle.

After the first student spoke, it didn’t take long before young people and parents started shouting across the circle with questions and comments about what happened.  In fact, one young man left the circle after threatening another student.  He was followed by his mother and the police officer who, after 15 minutes, managed to calm him down enough to return to the Community Conference.  Over the next few minutes, it became clear to the group that the young ladies were further along in resolving their incident, so a second Community Conferencing facilitator led the young ladies, their families, and Ms. Carey into another room to have their own Community Conference.  Within 45 minutes, the girls had created and signed an agreement.

Throwing a Dollar Bill

Meanwhile, back in the library, the young men and their parents spent a lot of time sifting through the events leading up to the fight.  After some discussion, everyone learned the conflict stemmed from one student owing another student $1 for a candy bar.  Parents were shocked and dismayed, and the students acknowledged that something fairly insignificant had escalated into a huge altercation.  In addition, some of the parents got to hear for the first time the extent of their child’s involvement.  This, along with allowing the group to talk about how everyone was personally affected, created a different tone in the room.

Emotional shift

At this point one of the young men took advantage of the emotional shift; he got up from his chair, walked across the center of the circle, and shook the hand of one of the young men on the “opposing” side.  From there, everyone got up, boys shook hands and mothers and fathers hugged.  The young men who had the heated verbal exchange earlier shook hands as well. Laughter followed – a clear signal that the tension that had been felt so strongly in the beginning, had now transformed into a feeling of relief and connectedness.

Written agreement

After formally laying out their agreement, giving and accepting apologies, and making plans for future actions, the entire group recognized the incident that affected so many had now been healed. The Principal thanked all of the families for not only making an effort to attend, and also for coming up with a positive resolution. Since everyone was in agreement that the situation was truly resolved, the principal announced that every student would be allowed to return to school the next day.  All 17 suspensions were averted.

The Principal pointed out to the families and the community that, by utilizing Community Conferencing, they were capable of coming up with positive and long-lasting solutions on their own.

Greenspring* Neighborhood Conflict

*All names have been changed to protect the identity of the participants.

Call for Assistance

Mr. James, a community organizer from the Greenspring Neighborhood Association, heard about Community Conferencing and called for help.  There was an ongoing conflict between residents and young people who played basketball in the alley.

With summer vacation approaching, residents had growing concerns that a new basketball hoop in the alley would cause great disruption.

Twenty neighbors put their heads together

The Community Conferencing Facilitator explained to each neighbor that everyone would be given a chance to talk about their concerns and how it affects them, and finally–that everyone would decide on how to make things better for the future.  A total of 20 people participated including four young people and their parents.

Almost immediately the conversation became a little heated.  The residents started pointing their fingers at the four young people.  “The noise, profanity, disrespectful attitudes, and the trash thrown in the alley while ball playing has got to stop!” exclaimed Tammy, a longtime resident.  Without hesitation, the young people defended themselves by explaining none of the adults ever asked them to be quieter; instead somebody always called the police.  And besides, they couldn’t take responsibility for all 10 kids who play in the alley.

Dangerous Streets

The conversation shifted as some of the parents articulated their concerns.  Mrs. Miles, sitting next to her 15 year old son, shared how important it was to have her children within earshot.  Mrs. Miles gave an emotional plea, “The streets have become so dangerous… I don’t want to be constantly worrying about where he is and whether or not he’s safe.  The alley is close to our house and I don’t want him to leave the area.”

Profanity and Trash

People nodded with understanding but that didn’t address the noise, the use of profanity, and the trash issues.  Ms. Sandy, a resident on the block, spoke about how she wanted to support the youth and their efforts to be safe, “but I can’t take another summer of non-stop alley activity.  My yard backs right up to where the basketball hoop sits, and I’m one of the neighbors most affected by the noise and trash.”

Everyone agreed that a compromise could be worked out.  Everyone thanked and commended the youth for not only attending the meeting, but also offering to be part of the solution.  A couple of the adults stressed that it was really important for the youth to be role models for more positive behavior.

More discussion brings resolution and a written agreement:

• The youth agree to speak with their peers and tell them what was discussed during tonight’s meeting.
• The youth agree to lead a positive example for other youth in the community.
• The adults in the group agree to go directly to the youth in a respectful way (before calling the police), and the youth agree to respond to them in a respectful way.
• Christopher agrees to provide a garbage bag so when he and his friends play basketball – he will collect and dispose of the trash.
• Youth agree to abide by the following basketball schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, & Saturdays 5-8 p.m.  (During the summer months youth can play on the above days between 1-8 p.m.)
• Ms. Kendra agrees to help supervise the youth while the other adults are at work.
• A contract will be drawn up and everyone in the community will be asked to sign the contract.  Mike [adult rep] & Christopher [youth rep] agree to write up the contract and have it completed in time for Saturday’s neighborhood block party.  Points discussed by the group to possibly be included in the contract are as follows:
  • Adults will approach the young people or their parents before calling the police.
  • No profanity
  • No littering in the alley
  • Follow designated days and hours of play
  • Consequence to broken contract will result in the basketball hoop being removed and it will not be placed outside the following scheduled day.

After everyone signed the written agreement, the conference ended.  But almost everyone stayed an extra half an hour to talk over refreshments offered by the Facilitator.

Follow-up

The Facilitator followed up with both Mr. James and a few of the other adults from the neighborhood.  Mr. James said the contract was ready in time for the block party and that several residents and young people signed it.  The family who own the basketball hoop reported they were happy with how things were going.  The Facilitator also spoke with Ms. Sandy, one of the more vocal opponents to the ball playing, and she said that things were going much better than last summer.

Joyriding in a Golf Cart

*All names have been changed to protect the identities of the participants.

Zipping down the street

Two weeks ago, 13 year old Brent and his Mom watched from their porch as 14 year olds Donald and Jeremy zipped down their street in a stolen golf cart.  And Brent did exactly what his mom warned him not to do: he jumped onto the cart for a ride.  By the time the Covington Golf Course employees and the police caught up with the boys, Donald and Jeremy ran off and Brent was arrested and handcuffed.  Jeremy was listed as an accomplice but the police couldn’t locate him so he was not arrested.

Stealing a golf cart, in the eyes of the law, is a felony which is equivalent to stealing a car.  After Brent was processed at Juvenile Booking, he was processed at the Department of Juvenile Services and sent to the Maryland State’s Attorney’s office for adjudication.

Once the State’s Attorney’s office approved this case for referral to Community Conferencing, our trained facilitator began preparation for a Community Conference with the boys, their supporters, and the golf course representatives.  At the Community Conference everyone would have an opportunity to:

• Hear what happened
• Find out how everyone has been affected
• Find ways to repair the harm (including possible restitution) and prevent it from ever happening again

The facilitator met with Covington Golf Course manager Mr. Marvin, offering him the opportunity to hold the boys accountable for their actions by holding the Community Conference.  During the conference he could tell them– face-to-face–how he was personally affected by the incident.  Also, he could ask for restitution to help with the $130 worth of repairs on the cart and ask the boys to never steal again as part of their agreement.

Everyone understood that, if group came up with an agreement and there was compliance with that agreement, then the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office won’t pursue the matter any further.

Trying something new

At first Mr. Marvin was resistant, “These are a couple of punk kids.  Why don’t we just take them to court?”  Turns out he had been to court for a similar case but it took valuable time out of his work week and besides, no restitution was paid.  After taking time to reflect on the bad experience in court, he decided to try Community Conferencing.  He understood that if it didn’t work, then he could still take the case to court.

Brent’s and Jeremy’s families were interested in working things out directly with Mr. Marvin.  The facilitator was unable to reach the third boy, Donald.

This has got to stop

A few days later everyone met and the boys explained, “We didn’t mean any harm.  We just wanted to ride around on the cart for fun in the neighborhood.”  And the boys revealed that Donald was the one who stole the cart and brought it to the neighborhood.  “So where is Donald?  We need him here too,” demanded Mr. Marvin.  The boys looked at each other.  Then Jeremy shook his head, “He got shot in the head a week ago.”  The room fell silent.  Finally Mr. Marvin shared, “We don’t want that to happen to you two.  That’s why we’re here today.  I’m sick and tired of seeing African American boys getting shot or stealing or going to jail.  This has got to stop.”

Written agreement

The family members added that they didn’t raise their boys to steal and that they know better.  Mr. Marvin outlined how bad it was that day for the golf course and how they had to pull employees off the course to chase after the cart.  Jeremy and Brent reflected on how their parents were affected because they had to take time off work to deal with everything and the anxiety they caused them.  Jeremy’s Dad, who suffers from cancer, had to reschedule his chemotherapy appointment to deal with things.  When asked if they wanted to say anything, Brent immediately said, “I’m sorry for what I did.  I’m also sorry you had to fix the cart.”  Jeremy chimed in, “I’m sorry y’all.  I know what I did was wrong.”  Everyone accepted their apologies.

As part of the agreement, Mr. Marvin asked for $65 from each boy to cover the repairs of the golf cart.  Jeremy’s father pulled out $65 cash and paid right on the spot.  Brent’s mom arranged to pay after her next pay day within the month.  In addition, the boys agreed to never steal again and to write apology letters to the owners of the golf course by the end of the following week.

Afterwards, Mr. Marvin shook hands with each boy and told them, “I want to see you boys succeed.”

Middle School Fight

*All names have been changed to protect the identities of the participants.

Disruption…

It was early spring when a quiet west-side Baltimore neighborhood erupted into chaos. Marcus and Taye fought while other middle school students circled the action.  Taye joined Pine Heights Middle School halfway through the school year.  With his good looks and polite charm he instantly established himself as the new “king of the forest.”  Marcus had held that title and was willing to do anything to get it back.

Ms. Elizabeth was disrupted from watching TV by the commotion outside.  She ran to her porch yelling, “I’m calling the police!”  Instinctively, everyone split.  The fight was the headline story at school the next day.

Suspension alternative…

School guidance counselor Ms. Redd had a decision to make—there needed to be consequences for Marcus and Taye’s actions.  Suspensions?  Ms. Redd had used Community Conferencing in the past and called the center.

Restorative Response Baltimore (formerly the Community Conferencing Center) partners with the Baltimore City Public Schools to provide alternatives to suspensions.  Cases are referred to Community Conferencing to give participants an opportunity to talk about:

• What happened
• How everyone has been affected
• How to resolve the situation

Face to face with the truth….

A trained facilitator contacted each of the families and the school staff to prepare for the Community Conference.  The circle of 15 was formed with glares, averted eyes, crossed arms and legs.  Marcus and Taye began to tell their story…as the truth slowly unraveled with questions from parents, details from the neighbor, Ms. Elizabeth, and input from Ms. Redd, a fidgety Ms. Yvonne, Marcus’ mom,  bursted with emotion, “Paul and I work alternate shifts to keep our family afloat.  I come home most nights worrying about my son… And now this!  Why did you two fight?!”

Taye’s dad, Tomas, leaned in, “Ms. Yvonne, his mother and I are going through financial struggles ourselves. We can no longer afford Boys’ Latin School, so we had to transfer Taye here.  Marcus was Taye’s first buddy at this school, but Taye started getting into trouble and Marcus was always involved so I told him to stop hanging out with Marcus.

Marcus mumbled under his breath, “So that’s why…”

With a nudge from his dad, Taye stood up walked across the circle and extended his hand to Marcus.  “I’m sorry.”  Marcus stood, shook Taye’s hand and embraced him, “I’m sorry too.”

Ms. Redd said, “Truth is, these boys are popular, and everyone looks up to them so we need them to set the right example.”

The glares had shifted into smiles.  Everyone in the circle relaxed. The boys apologized to the school and to Ms. Elizabeth for their disturbance.  They agreed the incident was “squashed” and vowed not to fight again.

Ms. Yvonne was glad to finally meet with the parents.  She had feared sitting face to face with everyone, and was relieved to receive so much support.  She exchanged contact information with Taye’s parents.

Late spring

Marcus and Taye ended up playing on the same basketball team.  No scuffles.  No incidents.  Just good sportsmanship.

Shoplifting at Wal-mart

*All names have been changed to protect the identities of the participants.

Caught Shoplifting

Asia Montgomery was caught shoplifting at Wal-mart with her friend Diana.  Asia was arrested but Diana was not.  The Baltimore City Police referred the Asia’s police report to Community Conferencing in the hopes of resolving the matter without involving the court system.

Alternative to Court

The facilitator drove to Wal-mart to speak with their Loss Prevention Manager, Mrs. Butler, to offer a way to hold the two young girls accountable for the $30 worth of cosmetics they shoplifted.  She explained to Mrs. Butler that Community Conferencing is a court diversion process that allows everyone to:

• hear what happened
• listen to how each person has been affected by
• the incident
• decide how to best repair the harm and prevent it from happening again

Mrs. Butler liked the idea of not having to take time from her schedule to go to court, especially since the value of the items was under $100.  She agreed to meet with the girls to make sure they understood how much of an impact shoplifting has on their store and that store policy dictates that once caught, the girls can’t shop in Wal-mart again until they turn 18.  The Community Conference was scheduled a convenient time for Mrs. Butler to hold it right there on store grounds.

When the facilitator contacted the girls and their families, Asia and her father eagerly agreed to participate.  They understood that if an agreement is made at the Conference, and if everyone follows through with the terms of the agreement, then the matter would not be pursued any further by the Baltimore City Police.  If the group couldn’t reach an agreement, then the matter would be referred back to the Baltimore City Police to be processed in the usual manner.  Even though Diana wasn’t arrested, she and her father also agreed to participate because of her involvement; and more importantly, because of her friendship with Asia.

The Community Conference was held in one of the surveillance rooms at the store.  Asia shared how she doesn’t even know why she did it especially since her father gives her allowance money to buy things.  “It was just a stupid thing I did for the thrill — to see if we could get away with it.”  Diana chimed in, “The minute we got caught I thought – oh my God!  My Dad is going to kill me!”

Mrs. Butler shared how she was on duty that afternoon.  It took time out of her day to deal with yet another shoplifting incident.  She was glad to recover the items and couldn’t believe the girls risked getting arrested for less that $30.  She called both families and that’s when she learned only one of the fathers, Mr. Watkins, was willing to pick up his daughter Diana.  Asia’s father, on the other hand, insisted that his daughter get handcuffed and taken to juvenile booking in order to teach her a lesson.  Before Asia was taken away, both girls heard from the officer they couldn’t return to the store until they turned 18.  Mrs. Butler explained that shoplifting costs the store thousands of dollars each year.  That means the store has to raise their prices to compensate for the loss so everyone ends up paying for their actions.

Apologies

Mr. Montgomery spoke up and said, “I did what I thought was best for Asia.  Even though all of this is really embarrassing, I want Asia to understand this is a serious and I’m very disappointed.”  Asia, without hesitation said, “I really did learn my lesson Dad.  I’m sorry.  And I’m sorry Mrs. Butler for all the trouble I caused.  It was a dumb thing to do.”  Diana added, “I’m sorry too.  I shouldn’t have done it. And I’m sorry about making things so difficult for you, Mrs. Butler.”  Everyone accepted their apologies.  Both girls promised to never steal again and if they ever see their friends doing it they will walk away.  Mr. Montgomery asked the girls to tell their friends they shouldn’t shoplift, either.

In closing, Mrs. Butler told Asia and Diana she appreciated their apologies so much that she would make an allowance for them to shop at Wal-mart again as long as they were accompanied by their parents.  She was willing to bend the policy a little because of how the girls accepted responsibility for their actions.

Accountability

Each of the apologies and resolutions were included in the written agreement for everyone to sign.  Asia couldn’t believe that Mrs. Butler allowed her to shop in Wal-mart with her Dad instead of waiting until she turned 18.  Mrs. Butler said, “Well, if you two had come to this meeting with an attitude and hadn’t taken responsibility, then this Conference would have looked a whole lot different.  I accept your apologies.”

Restorative Response Baltimore submitted a disposition to the Baltimore City Police indicating the matter had been resolved.  The case was closed.

* the names of the participants have been changed in order to protect their identities.