Under the new "restorative justice" court system, those who steal to feed their addictions are offered treatment and counselling in exchange for a guilty plea.

Andrew Cochrane is a hard-at-it Crown prosecutor assigned to this city's new community court. It is a unique experiment in fast justice, aimed at downtown street criminals. 

Launched with some fanfare this week in Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside, it has already lived up to its billing as the quickest court stop in town. In the entire country for that matter. Mr. Cochrane has been a prosecutor for 10 years; he has seldom experienced such a pace. And things are just starting to rev up.

Day One: Wednesday. Crown and defence counsels were immediately dealt a dozen confessed shoplifters and miscreants whom police had arrested downtown. Technical difficulties in the courtroom delayed proceedings somewhat.

There were sound-transfer problems inside the glass-enclosed prisoner's dock. And certain out-of-custody offenders didn't show up. Mr. Cochrane shrugged that off. Perhaps they had become lost; the new facility is buried inside a concrete bunker, behind a provincial courthouse where more serious crimes are tried.

In the new community court, petty thieves, aggressive panhandlers and the like are given the choice of pleading not guilty to the charge they face, or making a confession. Should they choose the latter, they are afforded immediate health and psychiatric assessment, shelter and treatment options, usually in return for judge-ordered restitution, which may include work detail such as street sweeping.

If they successfully complete their work and treatment assignments, the offenders return to court to have their charges stayed.

The idea, Mr. Cochrane says, is to process summary conviction cases expeditiously and effectively, eliminating lengthy, costly and oft-delayed proceedings in regular court. 

More important, it gives offenders some chance at turning around their lives.

A 35-year-old named Devon Lloyd was ushered from the cells and into the court. He had been caught lifting a sandwich from a downtown grocery store the night before. He was intoxicated at the time, having downed several cans of beer before his offence.

He was arrested and spent Tuesday night in jail. The first community court case before Judge Thomas Gove, he was handled with care, but with little ceremony. The matter was handled in just a few minutes.

Rather than go back to the cells and wait days or weeks for another hearing -- or, more typically, return to the streets with no immediate redress-- Mr. Lloyd confessed to the sandwich theft. He was then sentenced.

Judge Gove ordered him to report to a local non-profit organization, the Lookout Emergency Aid Society, where he was to spend four hours at whatever menial task he was assigned.

Giving something back to society is key to "restorative justice," local justice officials say.

Members of a provincial task force examined community court operations in other cities, such as New York, before recommending the Vancouver model.

 Getting an offender into a place where issues such as substance abuse are managed is also crucial. That way, they can see for themselves how treatment can work. Mr. Lloyd, for example, has a problem with alcohol; the Lookout provides services for alcoholics.