Community Justice Project
Creating Change. Empowering Communities. Promoting Justice.
The Community Justice Project is a one-semester, six-credit clinic offered in both the spring and fall semesters. Under the supervision of Professor , students will have the opportunity to work closely with community based partners to solve disparities experienced in the juvenile, housing, education, and criminal justice systems by proposing and applying public policy solutions.
The CJP focuses on bridge building with community stakeholders and problem solving in distressed communities. Students will gain valuable advocacy, legal research and writing, litigation and outreach skills. Students in the practice group will be agents of change to ensure that justice is obtained for underserved members of the community. For example, students conducted research related to community policing models and problem solving techniques.
Students will take a comprehensive look at improving the lives of the African American community in the Twin Cities. The CJP has engaged in intensive research into practical solutions to longstanding challenges such as racial disparities in the criminal justice system, police brutality, and racial disparities in the educational and juvenile justice systems for at-risk youth.
Example Projects
- Providing community education and mobilization around social justice issues and improving relationships between community members, the police department and local government;
- Creating a Community Awareness Program, where law students travel to local elementary and secondary schools to educate youth about the law, their rights, and interactions with police officers;
- Proposing and organizing an integrated approach to addressing gang violence by creating a reintegration/prevention program called Brotherhood, Inc., patterned on an organization in Los Angeles (offering a social enterprise and integrated social services for young African-American men who have had contact with the criminal justice system);
- Working in restorative justice programs.
Links and Resources
- National Institute of Justice