Referred to: The Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee (Chairwoman Walter and Legislators Fabiano, Haynes, Heppner and Parete), and The Ways and Means Committee (Chairman Gavaris and Legislators Archer, Bartels, Haynes, Maio, Parete, Ronk, and Walter)

Chairwoman of the Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee, Eve Walter, offers the following:

WHEREAS, in 2013, with funding from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) the Ulster County Department of Probation, in partnership with Family, Inc., implemented and evaluated an innovative program called One80 serving youth at-risk of arrest aged 7-17 through referrals from police and school districts; and

WHEREAS, since its inception, several changes have been implemented to the Ulster County Restorative Justice program including: 1) the provision of monthly Restorative Justice (RJ) trainings for any Ulster County resident interested in understanding the process and/or ultimately leading a RJ Circle as a facilitator; 2) the expanded engagement of the Office of the District Attorney; 3) an expansion of the program to include adults aged 18-26 with misdemeanors and non-violent felonies; and

WHEREAS, Resolution No. 410 of October 15, 2019 established the Ulster County Criminal Justice Reform Task Force (UC-CJRTF) which has set forth to evaluate existing and potential criminal justice programs, to ensure the best and most cost-effective delivery of services, and to explore opportunities for program expansion to help the greatest number of county residents who may be in need of services; and

WHEREAS, the Ulster County Legislature is in receipt of, and has reviewed the report of the UC-CJRTF; and

WHEREAS, The Ulster County Criminal Justice Reform Taskforce expressed a strong desire to see restorative justice practices in Ulster County further expand where ultimately it can be used for a larger number of cases diverting individuals from the jail and toward greater community cohesion; and

WHEREAS, one of the County Executive’s Justice and Reform goals is to, “create a culture in Ulster County of healing and repairing instead of punitive;” and

WHEREAS, while the expansion of Restorative Justice overall and over the next several years will continue to be addressed by the District Attorney’s Restorative Justice working group, the UC-CJRTF believes that an understanding how restorative justice works would be highly beneficial for improving county responses to crime and victimization by certain county positions; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Resolution No. 422 of 2021, the Ulster County Legislature adopted a policy to identify County positions that work directly with crime victims and persons accused of crimes; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, the Ulster County Legislature urges the Ulster County Executive to require and implement a Restorative Justice Training Program for the employees identified in the report as referenced in Resolution No. 422 of 2021, leveraging current RJ programming offered through the Restorative Justice and Empowerment Center, and tailoring the program as needed to each Department and/or Office,

and move its adoption.

ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:

AYES:                       NOES:     

Passed Committee: Law Enforcement and Public Safety on ______________.

Passed Committee: Ways and Means on ______________.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

TBD