Reducing Trauma News Archive

Family courts have an important role to play in breaking cycles of trauma. The Strong Starts Court Initiative shows how.

Who winds up on Rikers Island and why? What will it take to close the troubled jail complex? Those are some critical questions raised in Vital City’s special issue on New York City’s jails. In their contribution to the issue, our policy experts Daniel Ades and Virginia Barber Rioja make the case for investing in supportive housing, not jail, for people with serious mental illness—a desperately needed alternative that is cheaper, more humane, and safer for us all.

Family members, friends, and neighbors gathered at a playground in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to remember Troy Gill, a 13-year-old boy who was lost to gun violence on February 29. As the community stood together in mourning, they also issued a call to action to mobilize against gun violence and prioritize the safety and well-being of all young people. “We're in a time where a lot of young people don't feel seen and or loved or heard,” said Anthony Rowe, director of our Neighbors in Action program in Crown Heights. “So our path forward is to invest in the youth.”

“We don’t want to see people locked up as the solution. We want them to get the help they need, get the stability, get the path toward a healthy life.” Governor Kathy Hochul visited our Midtown Community Justice Center to share exciting news of a $33 million investment into expanded mental health support for New Yorkers in the criminal legal system. On NY1, hear from the people working on the ground to link people who have been arrested to those life-changing services, including Mel Hodor from our Midtown Community Justice Center team.

At our Midtown Community Justice Center, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced expanded investments in support for New Yorkers struggling with mental illness, including $33 million to better respond to people in the criminal legal system. The boost in funding will support more programs like ours. “I could be in jail rotting away, but I changed my life,” program graduate Ibrahim Ayu told CBS News. “I’ve really been on a trajectory of going up because of the Midtown Community Justice Center.”

As the nationwide shortage of stable, affordable housing has come into sharp relief, an important question is ringing out in cities and neighborhoods across the country: How can we help people stay in the homes they already have?

Our Westside Community First program is among four nonprofits in Syracuse, New York, set to receive funding from the Opioid Settlement Program, which will administer relief funds towards services for people impacted by the opioid crisis. Westside Community First sends street outreach teams into areas with high rates of drug use to connect people to overdose prevention kits, health supplies, and holistic, trust-based care.

Far too many people struggling with a mental illness lack the support they need, leading to a host of challenges – from housing insecurity to unemployment – that often drive contact with the justice system. For more than 25 years, the Center has helped build court programs where people with mental health needs can find care and support. This article for the Practising Law Institute profiles the Misdemeanor Mental Health Court we help operate in Manhattan, which provides supportive responses for people with mental illness facing low-level charges.

Many people with mental health challenges wind up in the criminal legal system because they have virtually nowhere else to go. Take a look inside the special court program in Manhattan working to change that.

Trauma is pervasive throughout the criminal legal system. Courts have the power to break the cycle of harm.