If one particular young man in Harrisonburg had stolen from his employer a few months earlier, he might have found himself standing before a judge, facing a possible jail sentence. Thanks to a new restorative justice program with the Harrisonburg Police Department (HPD), however, this young thief instead found himself facing his employer to talk ...More
When facing a difficult decision from the bench, Jeremiah Zook ’97 reminds himself that the voters of Pennsylvania’s 39th Judicial District elected him to make difficult decisions on matters that find their way into his Court of Common Pleas. He reminds himself of his responsibility to protect the peace and security of Franklin and Fulton ...More
J. Daryl Byler ’79 and Lindsay Martin ’05 both have law degrees, are certified to practice law in states other than Virginia, and instead work for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Experiences with Mennonite service in early adulthood instilled in them a deep-seated commitment to advocate for others and promote nonviolence and community development. ...More
On a conservative Mennonite farm in Pennsylvania, Lorraine Stoltzfus ’77 grew up watching her father protect his land from soil erosion through contour farming. Almost 20 years later, when Stoltzfus had finished her time at Eastern Mennonite University and was in law school at the University of Wisconsin, Olga Kolotushkina ’95 was spending her summers ...More
No matter who you are, navigating the American legal system can be daunting. If you’re a poor, undocumented immigrant, it can be a lot worse than that. “This is a seriously marginalized group in the United States…. It’s very easy in the system for the rights of an indigent, unrepresented, undocumented immigrant to be completely ...More