Sometimes you can only be sure you’ve made the right move after you’ve made it. That’s what happened when we changed our name to the Center for Justice Innovation. We did the planning and research. We held focus groups with staff and others, consulted marketing experts, and took time to reflect.

But it wasn’t until we announced our new name publicly in January 2023 that we were certain we’d made the right choice. The positive feedback we received was immediate and universal. “That makes sense.” “I love it.” “It couldn’t come at a better time.”

In language terms, the change wasn’t big. We swapped out the word “court” for the word “justice,” leaving the other three words untouched. But in idea terms, the change was monumental, reflecting 27 years of impact and growth. 

Apropos of an organization with innovation in its name, we’ve been evolving since the day we were founded in 1996. We began by working with the New York State Unified Court System to implement new, evidence-based ideas to reduce unnecessary incarceration, support victims, and make communities safer. Over time, we partnered with other parts of the justice system and with communities, particularly those most impacted by crime and disinvestment. We also grew geographically—from a focus on New York City, to other parts of the state, New Jersey, and California—and we fostered a team of researchers and experts who support people interested in developing their own local reforms across the country and around the world.

As we grew, we recognized that to achieve true justice, we needed to work “upstream,” finding new and better ways to keep people out of the legal system with programs that put people first and build on their strengths. We believe justice has many facets, starting with safe streets, economic mobility, vibrant schools, stable housing, and resources to address the kinds of life challenges—such as mental illness, substance use, and family violence—that all communities face.

But justice isn’t only about healthy, vital communities. It’s also about fair and effective policies that reflect the views of those affected by crime and the legal system. That’s why we engage in “participatory” activities, such as a participatory budgeting, which empowers local residents to decide for themselves how to spend city funds to build safety (see below under “Promoting Economic Justice”) and participatory action research, which welcomes community residents to join our staff as researchers (look under “Changing Narratives”).

We also prioritize racial justice. One way we advanced racial justice in 2023 was in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation by working with four jurisdictions to identify and address drivers of racial inequities in the legal system and broader community. We also sought to empower survivors by partnering with national groups to build a framework for professional development and support for those who have experienced human trafficking to help them become leaders and advocates. 

Our community-focused work takes many forms. Last year, we launched new programs to help families avoid eviction, started a street outreach program in our Upstate office to reduce drug overdoses, and opened new justice centers in the Bronx and Queens to train local residents as leaders, expand opportunities for young people, promote economic mobility, and serve as incubators of new community-driven initiatives to foster community health and resiliency.

The Center for Justice Innovation is a remarkable organization—and I’m not saying that because, as Chair of the Board, I’m supposed to say that. I’m saying that because I know from long experience it’s true. I’ve been privileged to interact with the Center throughout my career, having worked closely with its inspired staff on numerous projects and witnessed the profound positive impacts it has had on people and policies over 28 years. 

In 1995, when I was a 22-year-old receptionist at the Times Square Business Improvement District, I met the people who would found the Center the following year. These folks were already drawing national attention for launching the Midtown Community Court, which had begun changing the script on how courts respond to crime. They showed that by offering services that address the underlying factors that contribute to crime, rather than issuing fines and jail sentences, they could increase public safety, improve lives, and reduce the use of incarceration.

Years later, as head of the Brownsville Partnership, I worked closely with the Center staff that planned and launched the Brownsville Community Justice Center, and as an advocate for public housing, I have partnered over the years with the Center in its efforts to empower tenants and fight for housing justice.

Our Housing Resource Centers in East Harlem and Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood are open to all residents facing the threat of eviction, struggling to pay rent, or needing crucial services like home repairs. In addition to providing legal and financial assistance, our Resource Centers connect community members to services for other needs that might contribute to—or be exacerbated by—housing insecurity, from help navigating public benefits to referrals for mental health care, employment, and victim services. This year, our Housing Resource Centers worked with about 2,000 residents to help them remain safely, affordably housed.

The Brooklyn Mental Health Court, which we helped launch in 2002 in partnership with the New York State Unified Court System, offers people with serious mental illnesses pathways out of the legal system and into community-based treatment. 

As vital as it is to address the mental health needs of people already in the legal system, no one should have to be arrested in order to receive care. That’s why navigators with our Community First program reach out to people facing housing insecurity in the Times Square area with clean clothes, health and hygiene supplies, overdose prevention kits, and other vital resources. By centering each person’s agency and slowly building trust, our team helps to sustainably connect people to longer-term services for mental health, medical care, and housing. 

2023 marked the 30th anniversary of the first program we helped launch, the Midtown Community Court, which now has a new name: the Midtown Community Justice Center. With decades of experience providing restorative pathways for people who have been arrested, the program now also offers a diversion program in Family Court for teenagers arrested for weapons possession, street outreach with Community First, and community engagement initiatives in Manhattan’s Straus Houses.

Strong families and support networks are the glue that hold thriving communities together. Our Staten Island Justice Center opened a new Family Enrichment Center this year where families can find support from their peers and assistance with vital needs like parenting challenges and career development. Known to residents as “the Spot,” the Family Enrichment Center hosts holiday and birthday celebrations, offers free laundry services, and is home to a community closet used by as many as 100 residents each week.

At the neighborhood level, justice looks like shared economic opportunity, safe and vibrant public spaces, and residents with the resources and skills they need to resolve common challenges together. At the Center, we work in both courts and communities to foster strong neighborhoods that are supported, not harmed, by our legal systems. Our Community Justice Centers around New York City offer safe, supportive spaces where residents can access services, find opportunities for healing and growth, and be in community with each other. In 2023, we opened new Community Justice Centers in the Bronx and Far Rockaway, Queens, each serving as a hub for community-driven initiatives and supportive services for kids, families, and people navigating the legal system.

No one can thrive without access to the resources and opportunities they need to find meaningful jobs and stable careers. Helping people build skills and knowledge to find lasting employment has been a long-standing component of our work in the legal system, which disproportionately impacts communities that have historically been locked out of economic opportunities. We also help build economic justice in neighborhoods that have experienced disinvestment by providing residents with job training, offering educational support, and investing in young people’s talents. We help young people and adults develop their skills, receive certifications, and build the experience they need to find secure, well-paying jobs.
 

Contact with the criminal legal system often inflicts lasting, disproportionate harms on people and communities, making it hard to access housing, find work, and heal—all prerequisites to a fulfilling and productive life. We work within the court system in New York and New Jersey to provide people with opportunities for meaningful change, treating contact with the legal system as an opportunity to address the underlying needs and challenges that often bring people into court. This means not just helping people get back on their feet after an arrest, but extending the support that many have not been able to access in the first place.

Not only has mass incarceration done great harm to many communities—especially communities of color—it has also failed to reduce crime. To cultivate lasting safety, we have to offer meaningful opportunities for change to people accused of serious offenses. In partnership with the New York County Supreme Court and up to 200 community-based service providers, our Manhattan Justice Opportunities team creates individualized treatment plans to connect people with felony charges to mental health services, job training, substance use treatment, and a range of other services that set them up for safer, healthier lives in their communities. The Felony Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) Court received $2 million in funding from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, as well as critical support from the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. As of 2023, 179 people have graduated from the Court to have their charges reduced or dismissed in most cases, each avoiding between 2 and 7 years of prison time on average.

Policies and practices are shaped by dominant narratives about the challenges facing our communities. We work to ensure that those narratives are informed by data, experience, and the first-hand expertise of those most impacted. Our groundbreaking study of young gun-carriers in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, revealed that young people overwhelmingly carry guns out of fear—for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. Based on in-depth conversations led by researchers with lived experience in Crown Heights’ street networks, the study countered widespread narratives that most young people carry guns in order to harm others. The study identifies different types of young gun-carriers in Brooklyn, and the findings highlight the need to meet young gun-carriers where they are, recognizing gangs, crews, and street networks as the main sources of identity, loyalty, and decision-making for many young people. Our recommendations point the way towards a collaborative approach to safety—one that offers an alternative to law enforcement, creates spaces for healing, and respects young gun-carriers’ allegiance to their street networks.

We also collaborated with Freedom Reads, the National Book Foundation, and Interabang Books co-owner Lori Feathers to launch the Inside Literary Prize. The first of its kind in the United States, the Inside Literary Prize is a book award judged exclusively by people currently serving prison sentences. 300 people incarcerated across 12 facilities will have a chance to select a winner among four recent books nominated for the award. The initiative is an opportunity for people who are incarcerated to participate in national conversations around literature and the human experience.

On Juneteenth, our Neighbors in Action team celebrated Black history in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, by paying a visit to the Weeksville Heritage Center. Weeksville, Brooklyn, is a historic settlement, one of the United States’s first free Black communities of the 19th century.

We also work to identify and promote anti-racist policies through our research, studying the effects of practices like mandatory minimum sentences on racial disparities in the prison population. In an op-ed we co-wrote for the New York Daily News, we make a case for doing away with automatic lower limits on prison sentences, showing that these minimums disproportionately impact Black Americans and confer excessive power on prosecutors during plea negotiations.

The Center for Justice Innovation belongs to a broad coalition of reformers working to close the inhumane facilities on Rikers Island. In 2016, we proudly joined the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform—also known as the Lippman Commission—to help develop safe strategies to close down the jail complex. With the launch of a renewed Lippman Commission, New York City will be updating its plans to close down Rikers Island, with an emphasis on expanding support for people with a serious mental illness and addressing case processing delays. With 9 out of 10 people incarcerated on Rikers being Black or Latinx, exposed to intolerable living conditions and often life-threatening violence, closing these facilities is an urgent necessity for racial justice. Our Executive Director Courtney Bryan will join other leaders, researchers, and people with lived experience on the new Lippman Commission to come up with a concrete action plan to put an end to the senseless suffering on Rikers Island.