Sarah Brody ’24, Jillian Leavey ’24, Emily Bernstein ’24 and Julia Patz ’23 were selected as 2022 Boskey Restorative Justice Fellows. The fellowship, funded by the James B Boskey Memorial Foundation, supports law students as summer researchers and clerks at the Red Hook Community Justice Center and the Lenape Working Group in partnership with the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights. 

Brody and Leavey worked with the Lenape Working Group and the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights. They wrote a shadow report for the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and completed a Tribal Housing Law Database on behalf of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and the STTARS Indigenous Safe Housing Center.  

Bernstein worked at the Red Hook Justice Center, the nation’s first multi-jurisdictional community court, and Patz worked at the Center for Court Innovation, the leading non-profit in criminal justice.  They participated in case conferences, observed court proceedings and assisted  Presiding Judge Alex Calabrese in conducting research on solving community problems, strengthening families, empowering youth, preventing evictions and addressing crime prevention. They also participated in the Justice Center’s Peacemaking, Driver Accountability and Youth Court Programs and community outreach events and initiatives.

“One particular highlight was being able to attend a special event for CCI's Family Healing Project (FHP) at the end of the Fellowship,” said Patz, adding that the FHP is a program of the Restorative Practices division that focuses on helping formerly incarcerated people with their transition back to society by healing their relationships with family, friends and their community.