In partnership with the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office, this study looks at the potential for offering meaningful alternatives to traditional prosecution for people accused of felony offenses in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, laying out key aspects of planning a successful diversion program.
New Thinking profiles the fight to secure lawyers for people facing eviction and the radical impact that is having in Housing Court. With its 1963 Gideon decision, the Supreme Court guaranteed a lawyer to any poor person facing prison time. For criminal cases, the decision was both sweeping and critically incomplete. On the civil side, the campaign for a right to counsel is taking a different approach—it's slow and piecemeal, but it's also working.
In a system rife with economic and racial disparities and swollen jail populations, could public defenders be the answer hiding in plain sight? Following a roundtable hosted by the Center for Justice Innovation on the sixtieth anniversary of the landmark Gideon v. Wainwright decision, this policy brief explores key areas where public defenders and jurisdictions are—despite their limited resources—working to make the promise of Gideon a reality.
After sweeping reforms to New Jersey’s criminal justice system, Newark Community Solutions joined local criminal justice practitioners and launched a pilot program in Essex County to bring supportive services to people with mental health needs awaiting trial in the community. This report gathers lessons and recommendations gleaned from Newark Community Solutions’ experience providing assessment and case management services within this pilot program.
This webinar, led by Jojopahmaria Nsoroma of the Alma Center and Higher Expectations Consulting Collaborative, provides a framework for APIP facilitator self-reflection to foster authentic engagement and growth for both program participants and themselves.
This webinar, led by Amirthini Keefe of the Domestic Abuse Project, provides a framework for practitioners working in abusive partner intervention programs to engage in reflection around racial and implicit bias, identify goals for accountability and change in their own networks, and learn tactics for addressing bias within their work.
Problem-solving courts can help create lasting public safety by addressing the underlying challenges that bring people into the system, but their success depends on their ability to build partnerships with local service providers and community organizations. This two-part resource for community courts includes guidance and best practices for developing strong relationships with local resource providers. It also includes a comprehensive spreadsheet to help courts maintain a robust offering of resources for the people they serve.
With the United States incarcerating more people than any other country in the world, there is a growing demand for less costly and more humane strategies to respond to crime and keep communities safe. In partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland in the United States of America and the Center for Justice Innovation, this overview of criminal justice reform in the United States, walks through a broad continuum of public safety and criminal justice reforms.
Margaret’s Place, a school-based initiative intended to provide trauma-informed programming, successfully reached and engaged students and provided comprehensive programing. The program was funded by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office across three school years (2018-19 to 2021-22) in two New York City public schools. The Center for Justice Innovation conducted a comprehensive study documenting the program model and implementation and outlining recommendations for program enhancement and potential expansion.
We talk of “second chances,” but rarely do we recognize that many of the millions of people returning from jail and prison each year never got a first one. This policy brief outlines a new vision for reentry focused on the social integration due to returning citizens. That starts with two priorities: immediate access to housing and to trauma-informed therapy.
