Studies show that many defendants, victims, and witnesses have histories of trauma; striving to reduce that trauma is central to our work.
Trauma-informed care—practices designed to identify and treat the symptoms of trauma—is critical to meeting the needs of those involved in the justice system. Recognizing this, the Center’s operating programs and national training and technical assistance are rooted in trauma-informed approaches. Specifically, we train staff working in courts on trauma and its impacts, design courtroom practices to create a sense of safety, and help communities to better understand the impacts of trauma and prevent future crime.
A number of our initiatives also focus on specific populations affected by trauma, including Make it Happen, which works with young men who have experienced violence; the Child Witness Support Program, which offers trauma-informed services to children and adolescents; and the Strong Starts Court Initiative, which supports Family-Court-involved infants and their families.
Initiatives
Bronx Child Trauma Support
Bronx Child Trauma Support provides trauma-focused services to young people who have been exposed to violent crime.
Make It Happen
Make It Happen helps young men between the ages of 16 and 24 who have experienced violence acquire the tools necessary to overcome traumatic experiences.
Save Our Streets (S.O.S.)
Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) seeks to end gun violence at the neighborhood level by changing local norms.
Strong Starts Court Initiative
The Strong Starts Court Initiative is a Family-Court based, specialized, intergenerational collaborative approach to handling abuse and neglect cases involving children birth to three years of age.
Our study of more than 100 young gun-carriers in Brooklyn identifies fear—for themselves and their loved ones—as the overwhelming factor behind the decision to carry. Under constant threat from other gun-carriers, as well as from police, and deprived of economic opportunities, participants describe a world with vanishingly few options. This report is part of a first-of-its-kind project using street participatory research to explore the socio-cultural roots of gun-carrying in U.S. cities.
Our knowledge about what works and what doesn’t in the field of justice reform has grown significantly in recent decades, but our willingness to pilot new initiatives has not kept pace. Through a focus on a pioneering New York City court, this article argues alternative-to-incarceration programs should follow the research and open participation to more charges, including violent ones, and seek to address a wider array of needs.
Bronx Heroin Overdose Prevention and Education (HOPE), a new initiative of Bronx Community Solutions, addresses substance use issues with a harm-reduction model at the precinct level. By giving clients the option of accessing community services instead of appearing in court, Bronx HOPE gives Bronx residents the opportunity for rehabilitation and connection to community rather than jail or options that don’t address the underlying issues.
Barbershop talks hosted by our RISE team give men a chance to work through their feelings about relationships, self-love, and masculinity in a space they feel comfortable.
Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has been appointed to chair the Women’s Justice Commision by the Council on Criminal Justice. The commission, which aims to address the unique challenges women face in the criminal justice system, marked its launch in July with a visit to our Brownsville Community Justice Center. Lynch and 15 other leaders serving on the commission toured the Justice Center and heard a presentation on our Brooklyn programs, which align with their commitment to reducing the flow of women into the justice system in the wake of rising incarceration rates.
NBC profiles our Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) program, which works in Brooklyn and the Bronx to stop shootings by building community relationships and connecting young people to support. Hear from Rahson Johnson, a violence interrupter and youth advocate with our S.O.S. team, who uses his lived experience with gun violence and the prison system to help guide children towards a better path. “The challenge for me was going back to the community that I wanted to destroy, that I was hurt by, and being able to make change,” Johnson tells NBC’s Maya Brown.