Reducing Trauma News Archive

Kiran Malpe believes her role as clinical director for the Strong Starts Court Initiative is about “being a voice for the voiceless, the babies and young parents who often get lost in the shuffle."

Orleny Rojas, who serves as deputy director of Criminal Court Operations, believes sustainable change starts with small acts.

Nida Abbasi works across the country to help courts and communities reduce trauma around cases involving family and gender-based violence.

The "6a" portion of New York state law allows the release of some incarcerated people, those with less than a one-year sentence, into a work release program. "Inherently, jail sentences are not a public safety reducing practice," Mike Rempel, our director of jail reform says. "They tend to lead people to become homeless, lose their job, create trauma, which increases recidivism afterwards."

With shootings on the rise in cities across the U.S., our staff spoke with Brian Lehrer about the reasons young people carry guns, based on their report "Guns, Safety, and the Edge of Adulthood in New York City." Lehrer interviews Research Director, Rachel Swaner Deputy Research Director Elise White, and community-based Research Coordinator Basaime Spate, about the year-long study in NYC.

Many vulnerable individuals who are experiencing homelessness or are in need of other services are shuttled into the criminal justice system. In partnership with Fountain House, Breaking Ground, and the Times Square Alliance, a new community-led initiative in Times Square called Community First aims to interrupt this cycle by building trusting relationships, providing essentials, and learning more about the individual needs of our Midtown community members.

During a rise in gun violence in New York City, the New York Times looks to understand why. They share the findings from our year-long study in areas of New York with high rates of gun violence, showing that many people in those communities don’t feel protected by authority figures, including the police, and are facing cycles of trauma, violence, and systemic disinvestment in communities.

We all know what's wrong with the criminal justice system (fairness and humanity are often in short supply). Drawing from our work, our director, Greg Berman, describes some community-based solutions—like violence interruption, trauma-informed care for the justice-involved, and social workers rather than bail or detention pretrial—that are already making a difference.

The Vera Institute of Justice named our book, Start Here: A Road Map to Reducing Incarceration, and two of our New Thinking podcast episodes—one from its Prosecutor Power series, and an audio portrait of our program working with young men of color—to its Best of 2018 justice reform list.

Understanding trauma, exploitation, and criminalization: an introduction to our work with justice-involved Black women and the role of human trafficking courts.