About Us

The Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) project is a national initiative of the Office of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). BARJ project trainers, researchers and juvenile justice practitioner's work with jurisdictions nationwide to advance systemic changes in juvenile justice policy and practice. As a model of community justice, BARJ seeks to involve and meet the needs of three co-participants in the justice process- victims, offenders, and communities. In doing so, the BARJ model guides juvenile justice systems toward "balance" in meeting the sanctioning, public safety, and rehabilitative needs of communities.

The project has worked with communities and criminal justice agencies in over 50 jurisdictions and 35 states to provide training, education, technical assistance, evaluation and research on emerging law enforcement and restorative justice practices.

In the current grant year, the BARJ project has worked in 39 states and provided training and technical assistance to more that 15,000 justice professionals. Additional project activities are focusing on national outcome measures for juvenile justice and a new strategy for juvenile re-entry into communities that is based in the concept of service in the interest of others.

HISTORY

In 1993 the Balanced and Restorative Justice Project began as a national initiative of the OJJDP through a grant to Florida Atlantic University. A partnership arrangement with the Center for Restorative Justice and Mediation was developed in 1994 through a subcontract with the University of Minnesota. The goals of the project are to provide training and technical assistance and to develop a variety of written material to inform policy and practice pertinent to the balanced approach mission and restorative justice framework.

 

Management

Gordon Bazemore, Ph.D. , is currently a Professor of Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University and the Director of the Community Justice Institute. His primary research interests include juvenile justice, youth policy, community policing, corrections, and victim's issues. He is the author of over 45 journal articles, numerous book chapters, and monographs on these topics. Dr. Bazemore's recent publications appear in Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, The Justice System Journal, and the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. He recently completed a book (co-edited) by Lode Walgrave entitled Restorative Juvenile Justice: Repairing the Harm of Youth Crime (Criminal Justice Press). He has directed several recent evaluations of juvenile justice, corrections, and policing initiatives funded by the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Service, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and various bureaus of the U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Bazemore is currently the Project Director of the Balanced and Restorative Justice Project. He recently completed a project funded by the Office for Victims of Crime (U.S. Department of Justice) to study judges' and crime victims' attitudes toward victim involvement in juvenile court.

Amy Anstee-Haskins, is the Administrator of the Community Justice Institute and the Balanced and Restorative Justice Project.  She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminology and Sociology from Florida Southern College and her Masters in Justice Policy and Management from Florida Atlantic University.  She has worked in several aspects of the juvenile justice and social work fields from a diversion program run by the Broward Sheriff's office to a Serious Habitual Offender Commitment Program ran by a private corporation to the state run child welfare/foster care system.  She is also a trainer for Restorative Group Conferencing.

Dennis Maloney is a Community Justice Fellow with the Community Justice Institute and the BARJ Project. Formerly Director of the Department of Community Justice in Deschutes County, Oregon, Dennis initiated a variety of juvenile and adult corrections programs that have gained national attention. He is known internationally for his seminal work, "Juvenile Probation: The Balanced Approach" (co-authored by Roming and Armstrong), first published by the Juvenile and Family Court Journal in 1988. Dennis has written two books and over 30 published articles. His book on probation is the most widely distributed journal in the history of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Over the past decade Dennis has provided technical assistance to all 50 states. The Department of State has distributed his writings to over 250 countries and his work is now being utilized worldwide as a foundation for justice system reform.

Project Staff

Heidi Vaniman, Project Coordinator

LaVon Dixon, Administrative Assistant

Evelyn Hanneman is the Editor of the Kaleidoscope of Justice Newsletter, a publication of the Balanced and Restorative Justice Project. She is Business Manager of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. Previously, she was Associate Director of the Maine Council of Churches where she staffed their criminal justice program from 1990 to 1998. She began a restorative justice focus for the Council in 1995

Dee Bell is an consultant of the Community Justice Institute at Florida Atlantic University . She worked 25 years in Community Corrections for the Georgia and Florida State Government. She has served as the program manager for the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles for six years. Educated at Clemson University and Emory University , she is a certified senior instructor with the Georgia Peace Officer Standards Council and has provided training in both state and national venues for many years. Dee has served on the development team for several curriculums to most recently include: Basis Training for Restorative Justice Trainers, Training for Trainers of Restorative Justice, Restorative Group Conferencing Training, Training for Trainers of Restorative Group Conferencing and the American Probation and Parole Association's Principles of Prevention. She has received a number of awards to include the JC Penny Outstanding Community Leadership Award and the American Probation and Parole Association Outstanding Member Award.