Contact: Niall Ó Murchú, (360) 650-2144 or niall.omurchu@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM – Two WWU faculty members will discuss new juvenile justice programs at the Lummi Indian Reservation Oct. 20 as part of a quarter-long exploration of “Children and the Law” by the Center for Law, Diversity & Justice at WWU’s Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Raquel Montoya-Lewis, chief judge for the Lummi Nation and an assistant professor at Fairhaven, will speak about the Lummi Juvenile Justice Project along with Jason Dallmann, the project’s coordinator. The year-old project has juvenile offenders complete service projects – while receiving support from drug and alcohol counselors, social workers and others – as an alternative to probation for their offenses.

The talk will be at 7 p.m. in the Communications Facility, Room 105.

“We’re going to be talking about our focus on restorative justice as an approach to working with kids rather than rehabilitation or punishment,” Montoya-Lewis said. “The ultimate goal is, if the kids become involved with the community they’re much less likely to be doing things out in the world that are negative. And if they know people know where they are and are paying attention to them, they’re much less likely to go out and do bad things.”

So far, the 20 or so youth who have volunteered for the program, known as the Juvenile Justice Team, have served meals or collected shellfish for elders and worked on the grounds at a community senior center. One teen carved small canoe paddles as gifts to graduating seniors. Some students choose a personal project to reach their goals, such as preparing for college. When appropriate, the teens must also get drug and alcohol counseling or other help. And if they graduate from the program, the offense is erased from their records.

The program is voluntary and only open to teens who would benefit most, as recommended by prosecuting and defense attorneys, Montoya-Lewis said. The teens may instead opt for probation, she said, which is probably less work for the teens themselves. But most decide to stay with the Juvenile Justice Team, she said.

“They develop a big support network through the program, while working with us,” she said. “They figure out over time that we actually do care about what happens to them and we want them to do well. If they stick it out with us, they start to trust us a little more.”

At Fairhaven, Montoya-Lewis teaches courses on the U.S. legal system, including property law and federal Indian law, as well as courses on cultural and gender identity. Licensed to practice law in Washington and New Mexico, she serves as chief judge for the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe and Lummi Nation and appellate judge for the Northwest Intertribal Court System and the Nisqually Tribe. She is a member of the Pueblo of Isleta and Pueblo of Laguna Indian tribes. She also holds a law degree and a master’s of social work from the University of Washington.

Jason Dallmann is an adjunct faculty member in the Human Services program at WWU. Before becoming program coordinator for the Lummi Juvenile Justice Project, he worked with at-risk youth in a variety of settings, including crisis care, residential case management and mentoring programs. He also served as the lead qualitative researcher for the Whatcom Prosperity Project, a study of issues related to poverty and prosperity in Whatcom County.

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