Balancing Justice in New York State

Four Balancing Justice Task Forces were established at a county-wide Action Forum in May. All have met several times.

The Citizen Awareness and Racial Equity Task Force (co-conveners Lisa Ellsworth and Scarlet Emerson) has initiated a series of guest columns in the Canandaigua Sunday Messenger about the criminal justice system in Ontario County. All four Task Forces will contribute articles for the series.

The Early Intervention for At Risk Juveniles group (convener, June Fisher) is interviewing representatives of local service providers to determine what preventive services are in place for juveniles.

The Mental Health Task Force (convener, Jane Bentsen) is working to improve interagency cooperation relative to mentally ill offenders, and plans to develop a program of volunteer advocacy for mentally ill inmates and their families.

The group working on Jail and Prison Programming (convener, Cynthia Winterhalt) strongly advocates retention of current programming for inmates in plans for the new jail.

New members welcome Jane Bentsen (315) 789-9068 or Scarlet Emerson (315) 789-2686.