CLASS TRIP TO RED HOOK HAD LASTING IMPACT ON INSTRUCTOR, STUDENTS

Red Hook was once to Brooklyn what the Downtown Eastside is to
Vancouver. The waterfront neighbourhood was known for poverty and
drug-fuelled violence throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1988, Life magazine described it as one of the most crack-infested
neighbourhoods in the U.S. -- a reputation that was solidified in
1992, when a popular elementary school principal was caught in
crossfire between rival gangs and shot dead.

The death of Patrick Daly is widely believed to be the reason Red
Hook established a community court eight years ago.

The Red Hook Community Justice Centre opened its doors in 2000 with
the goal of addressing the area's drug abuse, crime, domestic
violence and landlord-tenant disputes.

Its "problem-solving" approach of combining social services with
sentences for low-level crime is credited for lowering crime rates.

This summer, Heidi Currie, a criminology instructor at the Lower
Mainland's Douglas College, took her class to Red Hook and returned
deeply inspired.

"[To see] the law practised in this compassionate, purposeful manner,
it made a tremendous impact on me," said Currie. "And the students,
too, were just so moved by this -- to actually see something work."

Currie said at no time did she feel unsafe walking around Red Hook,
which is home to a large public-housing project.

"It was clean. It was quiet. It was completely and totally safe," she said.

Although gentrification may have been a factor, Currie says there is
no doubt the community court has played a vital role in cleaning up
the streets of Red Hook.

The court has garnered worldwide attention for its success, with many
countries modelling their community courts on Red Hook's, including Vancouver.

"Of all the problem-solving courts in New York, Red Hook's is held in
the highest overall regard by both prosecutors and defense
attorneys," stated a 2005 New York Law Journal article.

There are now community courts all across the U.S., as well as in
South Africa, the U.K. and Australia.

But Currie is concerned Vancouver's will fail because of a lack of
social support and the resources required to effectively deal with
the root causes of crime in the Downtown Eastside.

She noted the 100 beds available at the new mental-health facility in
Burnaby will fill up very quickly.

The criminology instructor is also concerned that not enough people
know about the community court -- and that community involvement was
crucial to Red Hook's success.

"I took the students to the Downtown Eastside when we came back, and
we talked to the residents . . . Interestingly, many did not [know
the community court was coming]," said Currie.

"It's such a great idea. The ministry is really trying to do the
right thing with this . . . But my feeling is this: Unless we have
clear, strong, dominant, forceful leadership, we're tempting failure."