“The number one lesson, no matter what I’m teaching, be it First Amendment or restorative justice, is just being consistent, being there, being a model for kids.” So says soon-to-be 2015 Rutgers Law–Camden graduate Steven Salinger, who has been educating Camden youth on a slew of legal issues since his first year in law school.
“The community that Rutgers–Camden serves was important to me,” notes Salinger. “Rutgers–Camden gave me the ability to use my skills to increase social justice right off the bat.”
Originally from Allentown, Pa., Salinger says he’s been attuned to poverty and race his whole life, but a major impact on his public interest passion was a trip to West Africa, while enrolled as an undergraduate at Dickinson College.
“We see extreme poverty here in the U.S., but that experience gave me another example of poverty, and really focused me.”
According to Jill Friedman, adjunct professor and associate dean of the pro bono and public interest program at Rutgers Law–Camden and Rutgers Law–Newark, Salinger’s eagerness to get involved and make a difference was equally appealing to an institution with a strong commitment to service.
“I met Steve in his first year, when he was the only student in the law school to show up early – actually the only student to show up at all – to volunteer for a middle school moot court competition. He has since become my student, teaching assistant and trusted collaborator on a range of initiatives; in that time, Steve has shown up on a lot of Saturdays,” says Friedman.
Salinger’s pro bono efforts at Rutgers Law–Camden hardly stopped on the weekends. His involvement throughout his legal education at Rutgers included Marshall Brennan, Street Law, Children’s Justice Clinic, and the Re-Entry Project. He even earned a Dean’s Pro Bono Award that recognizes students who volunteered 100 hours or more. Salinger didn’t just get involved though, he paved the way for new initiatives, like the Youth Courts he has implemented in Camden.
When Salinger clerked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District Pennsylvania, he returned to law school inspired to engage Camden youth in an in-school system of restorative justice, or as he puts it, “student-led democracy.”
Salinger, with fellow law student Justin Kozinn, has been implementing Youth Courts at Urban Promise Academy and Hatch Middle School. Support was also received from law students at Drexel. Camden students involved in the programs have been learning, before they might become entangled in juvenile or criminal courts, how to de-escalate situations through instructional and interactive lessons.
“We have built up the students’ restorative justice vocabulary and knowledge. Students work on achieving constructive and restorative outcomes rather than stock punishment,” says Salinger. “The basis of Youth Court is democracy – students governing students. Restorative justice practices can counteract the ‘School to Prison Pipeline’ phenomenon.”
While Salinger’s ambitions to equip Camden students with this new legal knowledge were steadfast, he admits the early days in the classroom weren’t without challenges.
“The first couple of weeks students work to frustrate your purpose,” he recalls. “Eventually a critical mass realizes that they’re not going to frustrate this guy out of the room, and there’s a movement to give it a shot.”
For Salinger, that tipping point was when a powerful group of seventh grade girls petitioned to have him removed. He used that organized action to further his own mission in the classroom. “This is your voice, this is democracy in action,” he remembers saying to them. He then asked the rest of the class, “Do you think it’s fair that only their opinion is voiced in this matter?” At that point, the class was ready to listen and take the process seriously.
“When that moment happens, you can feel the shift in the room, and the class dynamic changes.”
Salinger’s persistence to not just deliver an idea, but deliver in its execution has been noted and appreciated. “Through our work to bring Steve’s dream of Camden youth courts to fruition, I have come to admire his integrity, persistence and diplomacy, and to trust his instincts,” adds Friedman. “Not only does he originate great new ideas, but he follows through on everything.”
In addition to implementing Youth Courts in Camden, which will continue after Salinger graduates, the Rutgers Law–Camden student has also been successful in his work with a Re-Entry Program, which had been designed to provide legal assistance to a high-risk population of federal felons, who if they make important life adjustments, could earn time off their release, get their record expunged, get their license back, reduce fines, and address issues with debt.
Salinger’s legal assistance to a client through this program resolved an outstanding warrant in New Jersey from a 1991 speeding ticket; the client just got a job that required him to drive through the Garden State and feared returning down a path he worked to depart. Taking the time to help a stranger make personal progress is how Salinger utilized his newfound legal skills.
Friedman acknowledges this passion to give back: “Steve has devoted heart and soul to creating opportunities for others to shine while also serving the legal needs of former prisoners, juveniles in trouble and others,” notes Friedman. “Steve is compassionate and smart, and he emanates a vision that the world can be better than it is today.”
After graduation, Salinger will be clerking in Camden with the Honorable Judge Michele Fox of the Superior Court of New Jersey.
“Making change is really about people and personalities,” says Salinger. “It’s a challenge to get people to think differently about the nexus of criminal justice, education, and society. Fortunately, there is a slow, yet steady, national trend towards communities building and embracing restorative justice practices. Salinger challenges us to “create awareness by thinking expansively, taking risks, and understanding past failures and shortcomings.” In doing so, he says, “eventually, you learn the lingo, rely on preparation, and lean into the experience.”