Cook County’s restorative justice court graduates 80 past offenders

Michelle Dennis turned to the streets after the father of her child was slain seven years ago — a decision that culminated with drug-related charges.

But she found an opportunity with the North Lawndale Restorative Justice Community Court to make peace, keep her record clean and move forward.

“All we needed was a fighting chance,” Dennis, 29, said.

She was one of 80 young adults charged with nonviolent felonies or misdemeanors who graduated from the Cook County Circuit Court’s communityprogram Thursday in their biggest ceremony yet. Because of COVID-19, their last graduation was in September of 2019. Thursday’s ceremony included graduates over the last three years.

About 80% of participants end the cycle of recidivism and don’t fall into criminal patterns again, according to the court’s presiding Judge Patricia Spratt.

Participants must be between 18 and 26 years old, either live in or worship in North Lawndale, and cannot have a violent offense or gun charge on their record. But they have the opportunity to have charges dismissed and arrest and court records expunged.

In the program, defendants, victims, family members, friends and others affected by a crime have the opportunity to come together through restorative conferences and peace circles.

[ He beat up and robbed a man who was doing pizza deliveries. Then they became friends. ]

In these sessions, which replace more traditional court proceedings, the defendants meet with the people harmed by their offense and talk about what can be done to repair the damage done.

After the meetings, the defendants sign an agreement to repair harm, which often includes restitution and community service, and can include job training, counseling, drug treatment and parenting classes.

Most graduates were not present at the ceremony, Spratt said, because they had been “so successful” that they were busy at the time, either at work or attending school.

“Thank heavens for this court. Because in this court, we can help young people avoid being lost to society,” Spratt said during the ceremony Thursday.

The goal is for participants to return to their community “not as convicted felons, but as contributing citizens,” Timothy Evans, chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, said at the ceremony.

“I just want you to know how proud we are of you. We know what you’ve been through,” Evans said to the graduates. “We know you didn’t have the resources that you needed as you were growing up, we know you’ve been traumatized. We know what you had to overcome.

“But look at you now. You have admitted that what you did was wrong. You empathize with those who may have been hurt by you. You have restored what they lost.”

One of the graduates, who had brought his 3-month-old with him to the ceremony, performed a rap song about his experience with the program.

“If I plan on going back, that’d be the wrong way,” Rashawn Fields sang.

“You’re a good rapper — and a good father,” Evans told him.

Conwanis Glasco, a 2019 graduate of the program, told the Tribune “restorative justice showed me that I won’t be defined by my mistakes.”

Since being charged with possession, manufacture and delivery, he said, he has become a musician and hopes to work on some podcasts about the youth in his community soon.

“I’m a testimonial to this program right here,” Glasco added. “I’m a graduate. And I take so much pride in that.”

Dennis, a resident of East Garfield Park, beamed with pride during the graduation ceremony. She has been fighting her cases for the last three or four years, so Thursday was imbued with significance.

“Even after being in the program, I got locked up again. And that was when I spent a little jail time. And I kind of realized, that wasn’t for me,” she said. “So I started changing for the sake of my son, because I didn’t want him to — after losing his father — I didn’t want him to lose his mother as well.”

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She said that as part of the program she had to apologize to her son, “for having him spend nights and months without me being at home because I was out selling drugs or I was in jail.”

She added that her son is a very smart 13-year-old who is on the football and volleyball teams at school and gets all A’s.

“If his father was here, he would be very proud of him,” Dennis said. “And very proud of me.”

Dennis, who is studying phlebotomy and has been working at Quiet Logistics for the last six months, said the community court should exist “everywhere, in every neighborhood, for sure.”

The success of the North Lawndale RJCC has spurred the Circuit Court of Cook County to open other restorative justice community courts in Avondale and Englewood to serve the North and South sides, Evans said.

“I’m calling on our state, county and local public officials to make this court available to more neighborhoods. Open up more courts, which means more money — and I’m asking for it,” Spratt said.

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