When Prison Is Not the Answer

By Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, The Atlantic

The Orange County Community Court (OCCC), a unique institution in California, practices restorative justice by combining social services with criminal justice. It houses multiple specialty courts and a rehabilitation program that aims for “offenders to avoid prison time and earn second chances.”

“The idea is for everyone to get together to try to figure out the best way to keep people from coming back,” said the presiding judge of OCCC, Joe Perez. “We try to provide them with the treatment that is needed, and the structure that is needed, because many of them have had no structure.”

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