Her relationship with her family is rapidly deteriorating. Her father died last year and her mother is pushing her to get clean, but worries it won’t happen. How could an addict handle going through detox? She’s heard too many horror stories. Withdrawal is dangerous and people can die.

Out of desperation she tries Methadone and it helps; it allows her to stop depending on heroin to function. For the first time in a long time, a life without heroin seems within reach. It’s like a brand new world, a welcome second chance.

Now another chapter of her life can begin: she’s reclaiming lost time, ready to push forward, and to change things. She starts to believe she’s won, and that the hard part is over. That’s when she slips up. She is in a grocery store with her boyfriend, who also struggles with addiction, when she slips back into old habits. She walks out with a few more things than she paid for - and this time it goes bad. She’s caught and arrested. This slip up will wreck her newly started life, labeling her a criminal with a record that will follow her forever.

If you think this woman should be offered a second chance you’re not alone. UAF’s Restorative Justice Initiative specializes in helping people through these crises.. The program is a collaborative effort by the UAF Justice Department and Alaska State Court system to introduce a pretrial system for certain non-violent offenders. The program is led by Rob Duke, Ph.D., former police officer and program coordinator in the UAF Justice department, and his interns. This program has employed 3 to 4 interns every semester since its inception in July 2017. This year Shay Shocklee, a psychology major, Ashley von Borstel and Sara Williams, who are both social work majors and Liam Juhl, who’s majoring in Justice, are working in the program. The program also works in tandem with  the District Attorney, Adult Parole, Juvenile Parole programs and mental health providers.

The Restorative Justice Initiative was created to help offenders avoid being institutionalized and to set them up for success going forward. In short, it provides life-changing second chances for both the community member and the community at large. After being arrested, the woman in this story was put in contact with Duke and his team and was able to enter this program instead of being “booked” and given a criminal record by the government.

“We know that the system tends to be a little sticky,” says Duke. “Once you get into it you get identified and labeled as a criminal, then it’s hard to get jobs.” This adds to the downward cycle and offenders are given the chance to avoid this predicament by participating in the program. Equipped to handle anything from misdemeanors to felonies this program, when completed, leaves no criminal record. Who is eligible for the option to participate is ultimately up to the prosecutor.