Derek Miodownik, restorative systems administrator for the Vermont Department of Corrections, talks about the state's innovative experiments in community and restorative justice, including Citizen Reparative Boards, which give panels of community members a role in working with misdemeanor offenders, and Circles of Support and Accountability, which link community members with parolees convicted of serious crimes.
There are dozens of community courts in the U.S. and around the world. This paper explains how they've adapted key principles of problem-solving justice—such as enhanced information, community engagement, collaboration, and accountability—to local conditions.
This paper--a joint project of Policy Exchange and the Centre for Justice Innovation--summarizes the experiences of 10 innovative criminal justice projects across the United Kingdom and the United States.
Dan Cipullo, director of the Criminal Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, discusses why and how the court expanded its community court approach from one neighborhood to cover the entire city.
Kurt Sandstrom, assistant deputy minister of Alberta Justice in Alberta, Canada discusses his province's efforts to break cycles of offending with integrated, evidence-based services.
Crown Counsel Adam Dalrymple explains how the Downtown Vancouver Community Court uses community service assignments to match offenders with organizations that address their social service needs.
Burke Fitzpatrick administers the Office of Justice Programs in South Carolina's Department of Public Safety, which distributes federal justice dollars to programs in the state. In this interview, he explains why he thinks problem-solving courts have been a good investment and what he looks for in a funding application.
