Restorative Justice Teen Courts:
Brotherhood Crusade developed its restorative justice teen courts to provide effective disciplinary alternatives to suspensions, expulsions and other non-supportive forms of punishment within South Los Angeles schools that perpetuate school push-out and fuel the school-to-prison pipeline; increase stakeholder awareness around issues of suspension for defiance (non-violent but disruptive behaviors that arguably do not merit the extremity of suspension); and affect school wide policy that currently enables the disproportionate suspension of low-income students and students of color. The model uses restorative and transformative justice principles as alternatives to traditional school discipline. Ultimately, the goal of restorative justice teen courts is to systematically transform school discipline policy in LAUSD and simultaneously effectuate the implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support in all LAUSD schools.
