The Center for Justice Innovation—and our operating programs—are regularly featured in the media. Here is a sampling of the press coverage of our work.
“We want to make real that people are more than the crash.” The New York Times profiles our Circles for Safe Streets program, which brings drivers face-to-face with the people they have harmed to do something all too rare in the criminal legal system: talk to each other. In this piece, hear from Hillary Packer—associate director of restorative practices at the Center—as well as people who have taken part in Circles for Safe Streets from both sides of a car crash.
Our Executive Director Courtney Bryan is recognized in City & State New York and NYN Media’s Nonprofit Power 100. The annual list celebrates nonprofit leaders with a strong track record of serving under-resourced communities. We are so excited to see our work represented alongside other leaders and organizations committed to building a better, more just New York for all.
“All these systems are basically failing these kids.” That was one of our research team’s major takeaways from their recent report on why some young people in Brooklyn carry guns. In Amsterdam News, Center researchers Basaime Spate, Javonte Alexander, and Elise White share what they found by talking to these young people directly and what those findings might tell us about how to put a stop to this violence.
As shootings increase among youth under 18 in New York City, it is vital to meet their needs and promote peace in the community. Our Save Our Streets program in Crown Heights shows News12 around their work as violence interrupters and youth advocates, and the impact it has on their neighborhood.
Supervised release programs in NYC, including those run by the Center, keep people out of jail and connected to the world; however, these programs are facing heavy caseloads as cash bail laws change. Fola Akinnibi and Sarah Holder explore the successes and effectiveness of supervised release in reducing incarceration and trauma, along with its future needs.
“True healing really requires vulnerability, which is next to impossible in situations of fear or intimidation.” Our researchers Basaime Spate and Rachel Swaner join Sheilah Kast about the findings in our youth gun-carrying report, adding to the timely discussion on gun violence in Baltimore. The relationships between fear, vulnerability, and the security of street networks are key themes on this episode of On the Record.
Center researchers Rachel Swaner and Basaime Spate meet with Brittany Aubain of BronxNet to discuss our recent study on why young people in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, carry guns. They talk through what they gleaned from in-depth conversations with more than 100 young gun-carriers—from widespread fear of dying to economic insecurity and distrust of police—and why our policies and programs need to take these young people’s perspectives to heart in order to succeed.
A new blueprint from the Mayor’s Office outlines a holistic, citywide strategy to curb gun violence in New York, one that works to address some of the underlying social factors—like education and economic opportunity—behind the crisis. This op-ed from the New York Daily News cites our recent study’s finding that young people in Brooklyn overwhelmingly carry guns for protection, making the case for more community investment and less reliance on law enforcement in the struggle to reduce gun violence.
As gun violence surges among young people in Baltimore, advocates and policymakers are looking for ways to address the underlying reasons that some young people turn to guns. The Baltimore Sun explores new, grassroots approaches to combating youth gun violence in the city and draws insight from our study of why 100 young people in Brooklyn, New York choose to carry.
Researchers Basaime Spate, Elise White, and Javonte Alexander join News12 Brooklyn to discuss our groundbreaking report on why some young New Yorkers are carrying guns. Led by researchers with first-hand experience in the street networks of young gun-carriers, the study identified fear as the overwhelming factor behind the decision to carry. As Basaime Spate puts it, this was the first study of its kind to “have a shooter and a gang member talking about why they are part of a gang, why they are picking up a gun.”
