Jose Egurbide and Restorative Justice

Got a great note from Jose Egurbide, who lives in LA:

In October 2017, I lost my older sister Cristina. Those of us who have experienced the loss of a sibling know it can have a profound impact on our lives, which was certainly the case for me. In the face of my own mortality, I developed a growth mindset, discovered Mindfulness in the process, saw what a valuable tool it was in helping me deal with my own trauma, and quickly incorporated it into my professional work.

In 2018, I embraced an opportunity to teach Restorative Justice at Pepperdine’s School of Law. I took over a class previously taught by Daniel W. Van Ness, a renown restorative justice scholar and one of the principal authors of the United Nations‘ Basic Principles on Restorative Justice.

In March 2020, I was invited to be a guest panelist at Wisdom 2.0 in San Francisco, where I had a chance to share the benefits of Mindfulness in the context of successful diversion strategies for eligible petty offenders as alternatives to a more punishment-based Criminal Justice System. In that context, Mindfulness can be a more effective tool towards behavior modification than punishment because it addresses the root causes of criminal behavior in the first place.

In October 2020, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, I spearheaded the very first Criminal Justice System Mindfulness Summit in Los Angeles. This virtual convening was attended by hundreds of judges, police officers, prosecutors, public defenders, CBO representatives and other key justice system stakeholders.

2021 marked for me my 26th year as a career prosecutor with the LA City Attorney’s Office, the second largest municipal law firm in the U.S. In March, I was appointed Chief of the Criminal and Special Litigation Branch and currently oversee 480 employees, including 255 attorneys. Based on my experience developing therapeutic alternative prosecution models for the most vulnerable criminal justice-involved populations (like individuals experiencing homelessness, mental illness and/or drug addiction) I’ve spent the first six months of my tenure re-structuring our Criminal Branch to reflect my vision for more transparency, consistency, and accountability, as we redefine the role of a prosecutors’ office in the 21st century.

Under my leadership, this office is implementing a more balanced and restorative approach to fighting crime by focusing on public safety and recidivism reduction, smart prosecution, leading with diversion first whenever appropriate, while still aggressively prosecuting our most serious crimes and protecting the rights of victims of crime.

We are in the midst of a lot of changes in the Criminal Justice system but while legislators and justice reformists are busy decriminalizing certain behavior and funding community-based alternatives, nobody is supporting progressive prosecutor offices, notwithstanding the fact that we remain the gatekeepers for the system, wield broad discretionary powers and understand better than most that meaningful and long lasting change, whether on a personal level or on a system-wide level, must start from within.

For this reason, I am calling out to all in our Yale family with Public or Private Foundation connections: If you are passionate about criminal justice reform, alternatives to prosecution for young offenders, expansion of more whole-person, therapeutic, trauma-informed approaches to addressing the root causes behind non-serious, non-violent crime, let’s connect and let’s talk! I desperately need your help, support and assistance! Ashe!