In the struggle to make neighborhoods safer.

Some law enforcement agencies in court officials are working to find innovative approaches for some that means partnering with community organizations in peacekeepers working on the ground and officials are pushing for policies to address root causes of violence and help offenders repair their relationships with their communities.

Joining us to discuss these efforts are Patricia Spratt, a judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.

Catherine Bocanegra professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago whose work focuses on violence prevention community, mental health and criminal justice reform and ernest Cato Chief public safety officer at the Illinois Department of Corrections and former deputy chief commander of the Chicago Police Department, everyone.

Welcome and thank you for joining us.

So Judge Spratt, you oversee a restorative justice community court for young people with nonviolent misdemeanors or felonies.

And here's a bit of your firsthand documentary where you talk about that.

>> It's not like the criminal court where you don't have an opportunity to tell your story until you're being sentenced.

You have stored or justice courts returning offenders back to the community as fully participating, productive members of the community.

>> Judge House, what you do and also what this court does.

Also a part peacekeeping.

>> Restorative justice is peace keeping it is repairing the repairing the harm to the community, repairing the harm to a victim and repairing the harm to the >> offender him or herself.

And it we use peacekeeping.

We use the circles process to to.

Being the people back to their.

>> Bringing people together former the former relationship and within that relationship, they come to agreements of how to repair the harm.

And they changed the life of the person who's coming through it and also prevents them hopefully from a being incarcerated that and we have a wonderful lower of the street.

I said early one of those films, I said 16% 13 percent percent of a straight for the restorative justice participants.

Okay, we're gonna come back to that a little bit.

Catherine, want to get you in here because you also gave a speech is part of the firsthand talks series about the toll that nonviolence work takes on peacekeepers.

We just heard a little bit.

>> From Adrian in the last panel about that.

But here's a bit of your talk.

>> They attend.

>> Dozens of funerals a year off to of their own program.

Participants, but even of their own family members were co workers.

They are regularly, if not daily, exposed to gun violence and homicide scenes and they place their own personal safety at risk as they seek to intervene in these situations.

>> Catherine, what's the impact of of what you just described and that whole that that takes on the peacekeepers.

Give a relentless cycle, every trauma to station that community violence intervention workers confront has a deep hole.

>> On their professional effectiveness on their personal well-being on their family well-being.

And if it goes untreated and they go, there were calls on support.

It has ripple effects in the community.

>> Even in your talk, you a worker who wasn't taking care of himself.

Nobody was taking care of him and he ends up basically going back to prison.

>> Yes, absolutely.

I believe that healing and on healing is an essential ingredient for peacemaking, unresolved trauma perpetuates cycles of violence and unresolved trauma.

And our peacekeepers means that they can't be as effective as they can be in communities in preventing shootings and violence.

And creating stability and peace.

Chief K, do you get a first-hand talk speech about the importance of visibility in communities in order to reduce violence?

>> What do you mean by that?

And what does that look like?

presence is very important.

>> We talk about visibility is not just a patient.

It's about being a part of the community being part of the community have relationships that are necessary.

Those relationships will turn into information that's needed to ensure that community stay safe as possible.

>> Judge Brett, we know that the recidivism rate, as you said, for people who graduate from your courts 13% within one year of enrollment versus 65%.

For those who are adjudicated through the traditional court system.

How does this program reduce recidivism?

How does the work that you do mean that folks are not committing another crime and going back to prison, the work that the young people do in the circle process with the circle keepers and others who are sitting in circle with them.

>> Forms relationships.

And forms trust.

We tell them when they come into the court that whatever they say in a restorative process is privileged.

So nothing they say leak out and come back and hurt them.

So that fosters feeling of safety interest within the circle come to some agreement with the people in the community of what they need to do to repair the harm to advance their own goals and coming out of the courts successfully.

>> And they also a complete some steps, right?

They there's sort of a plan for them to repair this harm.

That's the repair of agreement, OK, repair, partnering think that's what he's looking for.

But what are the circumstances for those 13% for those who who do end up percent baiting?

What are the circumstances that leads to that?

under what circumstances, someone unfortunately failed.

>> don't come out of the community.

They stick with group that they've been hanging out with before they were arrested.

We don't get to talk to those people, though, because they're back in jail.

So can't.

Can't find out why the went back Committing crimes.

You know that they they they stop showing up date.

>> It sounds like you probably end up losing communication with them and they working a program basically what once they've graduated from the program, we generally don't hear back from them.

Mostly because they're working harder.

They're in school or there doing other things that they for their own betterment for the betterment of the community.

It's probably good.

They're living their think need to hear from him.

>> Catherine, what to support look like for violence.

Intervention workers?

You know, we just heard Damien mentioned, you know, of a little bit of job security, their jobs and not typical in that they can get a contract.

You know, everybody else we want better pay and better benefits and better hours.

But what does it look like for these folks?

Absolutely.

A livable wage, a robust benefits package.

Job security not going grand.

2 grant a worrying the government.

>> Funding could be cut short.

But in addition to that, there are wellness strategies that can be implemented by their employers, by the organizations they working for the value rest and recovery.

That value decompressing after critical incident in the community.

And that also give them space to breathe and take a vacation and invest in their own professional development.

All of those >> strategies communicate something really important to our frontline peace keepers, which is that you're valuing extends beyond what you produce and you're past your value is in your leadership and your well-being.

>> chief do.

What is your advice to community members who fear sort of letting the gangs of the drug dealers in their community fear letting them know that I see you and I see what you're doing because that's something that you think you talk about in your talk as well.

Well, >> you have to be visible.

Can be invisible.

You have to.

Take the chance to just walk up and down your block.

Sit on your porch, engage with each other because if you treat it as though it's invisible, that's what you're gonna get.

We have to do a better job with supporting the folks in each community.

And I think once we start doing that, you will see a difference.

>> Then there's the reverse of that because some community members may not trust the police department's either.

And what role do officers do you know the I guess the officers to command in that neighborhood?

What role do they play in helping rebuild that trust to be part of the community?

>> really have to our community.

We have to do.

They have to foot patrols.

They have to get to know the members in that community.

And I think policing itself are doing a better job with that, engaging with the with the members of community.

Often folks in communities feel left out.

They still along police community policing coming together as one will support.

That would help that without that, you're going to continue to have, which what we've had in the past.

So it's very important that.

The communities no longer be afraid.

And it's important that policing supports the community and it should be one strategy with the community.

few seconds left under a minute.

Cook County State's Attorney Jones judge spread is going to stop diverting nonviolent gun cases to restorative justice courts.

>> How is that going to impact the people who would typically come to your court?

It already has that.

She's pause that she calls it putting a pause and sending over.

possession offenders because she's working through the legislature to create a new program for those who iris, I rested for gun possession in.

Don't hear FOID cards in this new program will get them.

The training, according to her, the training and getting there their documentation.

But she's not sending them back to us.

Once that happens, she's she's envisions Quick procedure or areas where there's no he circles.

So if there's no peace circles, it's not story of justice.

won't be coming back to Okay.

Let's talk about that more.

But we're going to focus on peacekeepers tonight.

We'll talk about that again some other time.

Judge.

Brett, thank you so much for joining us.

Catherine Bocanegra and chief Ernest Cato.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

>> for more on firsthand peace keepers, be sure to check out our website.

We explore these issues as well as other areas like social media is used to end gun violence and how other