CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Eighty graduates of the North Lawndale Restorative Justice Community Court will take the stage Thursday in what will be the largest graduation in the court’s five-year history.
Founded in 2017 by the Circuit Court of Cook County, the North Lawndale Restorative Justice Community Court is aimed at giving adults between the age of 18 – 26 the chance to have nonviolent felony or misdemeanor charges dismissed and their court records expunged.
In a press release, Chief Judge Timothy Evans said part of the community court’s mission is to “end the harmful cycle of revenge and recidivism.”
“Brain science research has shown that the brains of young adults are still ‘emerging,’ and that the portion of the brain responsible for good decision making is not fully developed until age 26,” Evans said. “This is why restorative justice courts were developed for young adults.”
The Circuit Court of Cook County has opened similar restorative justice community courts in Englewood and Avondale.
Circuit Court Judge Patricia Spratt, who will speak at Thursday's ceremony, said in the release that “young people are our most valuable non-renewable resource.”
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“When we lose one to gun violence, drugs, or long-term jail sentences, that young person has lost any opportunity to reach his or her potential,” Spratt said.
The Circuit Court of Cook County said 84% of the young people who enter the North Lawndale program do not return to the criminal justice system.
The ceremony will be the first in-person graduation ceremony since 2019, so the ceremony will include participants who have graduated over the last three years.
Since its inception, the North Lawndale program has seen 130 graduates and has 78 current active participants.
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