Professional Standards

Peer work within the criminal justice profession is several decades old and overdue for standards to be applied to those working to help in the field where they once were part of the problem.

This has been accomplished somewhat in the addiction field, and bringing the standards to street intervention programs, as this article in the Los Angeles Times reports, is an excellent idea.

An excerpt.

“Officials on Monday unveiled a federal bill that would create national standards and accountability for gang intervention workers as part of a Los Angeles-based effort to professionalize the growing and controversial field.

“The bill, which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), is the first such national initiative to regulate intervention workers who act as liaisons between law enforcement and communities. Police and intervention workers have a long history of distrust, but authorities have come to rely on intervention workers for such matters as monitoring street gossip and preventing retaliatory shootings.

"We gave the world the Crips and the Bloods," Watson said during a visit to the headquarters of Communities in Schools, a North Hills youth center. "Now it is time we take a leadership role and change the tremendous influence gangs have had on young people and the entire society."

“The bill is modeled after a similar, locally approved plan introduced by Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas.

“Among other provisions, the bill spells out those services the federal government expects intervention agencies to deliver, such as street mediation and crisis response at schools. It also seeks to hold intervention agencies accountable by using "evidence-based" accounting of gang-related violence and the numbers of young people who have been routed into job development programs.

“The standards would apply to intervention agencies seeking direct federal funding or local government agencies seeking federal funding for contracted intervention services. Watson said she will ask U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to sponsor a companion measure in the Senate.”