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46 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.14 WHERE SHOULD YOUR MONEY GO? WHERE SHOULD YOUR MONEY GO? Restorative Justice Louisville Misdemeanor meet-ups f the teenager who hurled a rock through Sandra Murphy's liv- ing-room window had gone through the traditional judicial process, he likely would have been sent to a juvenile detention center. Instead, he ended up face to face with Murphy, a retired elementary school teacher who lives of Taylorsville Road near Bowman Field. The two were in a conference room at the Bon Air branch of the public library. With the help of facilitators from Restorative Justice Louisville, the two par- ties reached an agreement: He (and the two other boys who were with him at the time) would pay to replace the window, and Murphy would drop the charges. "I know kids sometimes make very unwise choices," Murphy says. "I hope it helped them. I think it did. They seemed like they were sorry and embar- rassed." "This process allows the victims to have an active participation in being able to determine what happens to the people who harmed them," Restorative Justice Lou- isville executive director Libby Mills says. "Ancillary efects of that are, for the young people who've participated in that process, you reduce recidi- vism." Mills worked in juvenile justice for 30 years before her current role. "I would get to hear what the kids had done from their view, how it impacted them, how it impacted their family, the remorse they had," she says. "I would hear it, but the people who needed to hear it would never get to." Mills and 40 volunteers work with kids ages 10 to 18 who have been charged with misdemeanors. Participation is voluntary for victims and ofenders. Since beginning in 2012, Restorative Justice has handled 213 cases. For instance, two middle school girls who beat up a class- mate and were charged with "threatening" and assault agreed to do community ser- vice. Another case involved three boys who had what turned out to be BB guns in the parking lot of a restau- rant. They were charged with "menacing," evading police and disorderly conduct but agreed to apologize to the restaurant owners and each do 15 hours of community service within 90 days. One of the boys, whose father was in prison, also entered a men- toring program. (Mills says either party can back out of negotiations and that about 50 percent of cases end that way, sending the case back to court.) Angela Bisig, a Jeferson County circuit court judge, helped get Restorative Justice started after attending a conference that showed how a similar program in New Zealand reduced juvenile court cases by more than 60 percent over fve years. "I'm a former prosecutor; I'm not soft on crime," Bisig says. "But, wow, if you can get some- body who would normally be a revolving door in the sys- tem not to re-ofend? To me there's no better way to be tough on crime than to stop people from committing it." I More than 2,000 nonprofts exist in Louisville. Follow this fowchart to determine the best ft for you. Do you like people? Eh. Trees? What kind of question is that? 'Tis the season. What about animals? Hmm…. Well, what about, like, trees? Do you like trees? ACLU of Kentucky, Fairness Campaign Does injustice piss you of? Dogs scare me. Yes. I'm not a monster. Well that's good to know. Do you want to help kids? Doesn't everybody? What about the world? Sure, I like kids. But what about the whole family? Nope. Fuming just thinking about it. Fine. Here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna donate to the local chapter of the Embroiders' Guild of America. Can we start over?