Significantly reducing pretrial detention is an urgent policy imperative in New York City, which plans to close its notorious and inhumane jails on Rikers Island, build smaller new jails, and reduce the total number of people held in jail by more than half in the next six years. This document describes a set of strategies that New York City is adopting to address the well-documented harms of pretrial detention.
Domestic violence survivors often struggle with financial stability and providing for their children following a separation. Economic instability is a driving factor in why many survivors return to abusive relationships. While survivors may be entitled to access child support, it is often a confusing process that can put them at risk for further abuse. This guide outlines how courts can work with child support agencies to provide survivors with the support they need, and to make the process safe and effective for those survivors who choose to pursue it.
The Center for Court Innovation’s "Taking Action" series aims to inform justice practitioners about innovations in the field and support their efforts to replicate innovative practices locally. This publication captures some of the latest developments in community justice, highlighting ten community courts that are implementing groundbreaking approaches to working in new physical environments, serving new populations, engaging new partners, and using new tools.
Our analysis of the revisions passed in April 2020 to New York State’s bail reform projects they will lead to a 16 percent increase in New York City’s pretrial jail population, relative to the effects of the original law. However, even the revised statute makes an estimated 84 percent of cases ineligible for bail. The analysis also weighs factors, including the COVID-19 emergency, that could produce a culture change in pretrial decision-making—in the direction of less, or more, reliance on detention.
Jails and prisons quickly emerged as epicenters of the COVID-19 virus. In March 2020, with an outbreak poised to sweep through the Rikers Island jail complex, New York City asked us and the city's other two supervised release providers to offer remote supervision and referrals to services for people released early from a jail sentence. About 300 people were released into the program. Results after six months show the program is reducing health risks and ensuring public safety.
The threat of incarceration has long been seen in some quarters as the best incentive to ensure people’s engagement in court-ordered treatment. But what if that assumption is wrong? This research brief argues the central element governing the effectiveness of treatment isn't threat-based, but rather the quality of the human interaction that accompanies it.
For many, courts can be intimidating, confusing, and discouraging. But small changes can go a long way to improving litigants’ experience. This fact sheet explains how satisfaction surveys can help courts identify problems, inefficiencies, and things that visitors to the court might find confusing or unsafe, particularly in cases involving domestic violence.
Programs providing supervised visitation and/or safe exchange services have been increasingly collaborating with the court and legal systems to provide a more holistic response to domestic violence cases. This fact sheet provides some tips for supervised visitation programs to help support survivors navigating the child support process.
In recent years, several U.S. states have adopted legislation aimed at decreasing sentences for drug offenses. These reforms represent a promising effort to reduce the use of unnecessary incarceration. But one consequence has been reduced enrollment in drug courts. This paper explores how drug courts can adapt themselves to sentencing reforms and continue serving as a powerful, lifesaving intervention for court-involved individuals with substance use disorders.
Each year, our work touches the lives of tens of thousands of people. Through stories and numbers, our annual report provides a snapshot of our activities, with overviews of our operating programs, research, and the assistance we provide reformers around the globe.
