The idea behind Manhattan’s Felony Alternative-to-Incarceration (ATI) Court is simple: what if the justice system could help people address the core life issues that led to an arrest in order to prevent it from happening again?
Artificial intelligence is both powerful and potentially ungovernable. It's also already in use in criminal legal systems across the country. While seeing significant promise in AI, this policy brief calls for a moratorium on any use of the technology that would affect people’s liberty interests or pose a substantial risk of harm. It also makes a series of recommendations to safeguard AI's implementation in lower-risk settings.
Our Bronx Community Justice Center partnered with the NYC Human Resources Administration, the Bronx Defenders, and our Community Justice Connect team to help public housing residents in Mott Haven build knowledge around rent, repairs, lease renewals, and preventing evictions. The session was part of a series of housing workshops we’re hosting across the city for NYCHA tenants to get connected to vital resources and find support with their housing needs.
The right to an attorney in a criminal case is a cornerstone of our justice system, yet in as many as 42 states today, people who can’t afford an attorney can still find themselves paying for that Constitutional guarantee. Based on two nationwide surveys of public defense attorneys and court leadership, our new report with the National Legal Aid & Defender Association takes a closer look at how fees for court-appointed attorneys are perceived and experienced by attorneys across the country.
This webinar highlights new research in the field of abusive partner intervention that focuses on survivor perspectives on programming and strengths-based approaches to addressing the intersection of systemic racism and program compliance. Faculty describes their research and how it ties to the Guiding Principles for Engagement and Intervention with People Who Cause Harm through Intimate Partner Violence and provides practical guidance to apply lessons learned from this emerging research.
Public defense attorneys have a crucial role to play in addressing racial inequities in the justice system, while often feeling the effects of those inequities themselves. This report—based on a survey of 690 public defense attorneys from across the country—aims to inspire deeper reflection within public defense agencies by shedding light on how attorneys think about their role in combating racial injustice and the impact of their own identities on their work.
"How can we best serve those who have served us and are coming through our court system?" That question was at the center of the two-day Veterans Treatment Court Summit our Recovery and Reform team hosted at the National Veterans Resource Center in Syracuse, New York. The summit brought together more than 100 practitioners from across the country—including judges, attorneys, mentors, and more—to connect, collaborate, and learn from each other's experiences bringing support to veterans in the criminal justice system.
Technology is not an excuse for ducking the hard problem of values. When it comes to the use of artificial intelligence in the justice space, we can't ignore the histories of risk assessment and electronic monitoring. With the adoption of AI already underway in criminal legal systems, the time is now for humans—not machines—to ask: What do we want to use AI for?
Watch as Basaime Spate and Javonte Alexander, co-directors of the cutting-edge new Street Action Network, take part in a candid discussion with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams about their experiences growing up as Black men in New York City, why they care so deeply about ending gun violence, and how government and communities can work together to improve the health and safety of all New Yorkers.
Despite the obvious need, most mental health interventions for court-involved people are brief and conducted inside the counter-therapeutic confines of the criminal legal system. The challenge for practitioners is making those encounters meaningful. Little research speaks to this reality. Our publication presents the highlights of a national convening we hosted to begin to fill the gap.