News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
When Michael Norzagaray's father-in-law saw an advertisement for a community justice specialist to take over Sisters' Juvenile Empowerment Team, he thought his son-in-law was the man for the job.
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office thought so, too.
Norzagaray stepped into the position as JET coordinator on Monday, December 7.
For Norzagaray, the JET program job offered a chance for his two children to live close to their grandparents. It also provides an opportunity to apply his extensive experience, developed over 10 years in Maricopa County, Arizona, in a small-town environment where his programs will have a chance to really flourish.
One program he is eager to initiate is a "community justice committee panel." Such a panel, Norzagaray said, would be screened and trained and its volunteers would join him in interviewing youth offenders.
"That panel would basically assess the risks and needs of that child," Norzagaray said.
According to Norzagaray, this program enhances accountability in dealing with transgressions.
"One of the advantages is that the child hears directly from the community they have offended," he said. "There's more of a deterrent factor that way."
Norzagaray also intends to increase "victim participation" in the diversion program, again to enhance offenders' accountability.
"When (youth offenders) shoplift from a store, they're looking at the store, not the manager or the owner," Norzagaray said. "Stores don't have feelings. When they see the manager or the owner face-to-face, it's a whole different perspective."
Norzagaray said he intends to continue the successful Teen Court developed in Sisters before the JET program stalled due to the resignation of its previous coordinator.
Norzagaray said his "unofficial survey" has led him to believe the program will focus a lot of attention on middle school-age children. He said that that is a problematical age in communities nationwide.
"Kids start experimental behavior at that age," he said.
To put those who cross the line back on the right track, Norzagaray said, "I basically paint as clear a picture as I possibly can of what lies ahead if they don't get it right on their own.
"If it's a kid that needs to touch fire to know that it burns, that's not going to have much impact," he said. But for others, "it has great impact.
"Most of them get it," Norzagaray said. "And that's my objective: get it right on your own with the help of your loved ones."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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