Diversion programs are key policy levers prosecutors can use to minimize traditional criminal legal system contact. Diversion strikes a balance between maintaining public safety, preserving scarce resources, and reducing future system involvement. Our guide provides an overview of the key data elements, study designs, and questions agencies seeking to assess and document program efficacy should consider.
Led by a team with lived experience and high social capital in the streets, the Street Action Network connects directly with people involved in gangs and the street economy to amplify the power of their knowledge and stories, change narratives, and create sustainable solutions to address gun violence.
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.
In an effort to help practitioners consider the implications of applying Risk-Need-Responsitivy (RNR) principles and learn how to effectively administer risk-need tools, the Center developed the training series, Administering the Criminal Court Assessment Tool.
In recent years, justice reform efforts have included the use of risk assessments to inform pretrial decision-making and minimize subjective bias. However, risk-need tools must be used in a targeted way that reduces detention, identifies salient needs, and alleviates racial disparities. This guidesheet offers strategies for implementing the Criminal Court Assessment Tool (CCAT) to help mitigate bias and create positive case outcomes.
How can we better respond to the trauma running through our criminal legal system? Part of the Trauma-Informed Practice Strategy Lab, this guide presents lessons from a national scan of criminal courts working to better support people with histories of trauma and will inform an upcoming blueprint for making trauma-informed approaches in court work on the ground.
Infants and toddlers are overrepresented in the child welfare system and are more likely than older children to be removed from their original caregiver and placed in out-of-home care. According to this new evaluation, implementation of our Strong Starts Court Initiative in a New York City courtroom led to a decrease in removals from their original caregiver and was associated with an increase in children residing with that caregiver a year later.
Governments across the country are shoring up responses to crime, rather than minimizing the need for these responses in the first place. Highlighting recent research and encouraging examples of innovation, this policy brief makes the case that community safety is part of community justice, and that public safety investment needs to be expanded "upstream," beyond the boundaries of the criminal legal system.
The Manhattan Misdemeanor Mental Health Court helps people with mental health issues and co-occurring disorders engage meaningfully in social services that seek to reduce their involvement in the justice system. Launched in March 2022, our team works with participants to craft meaningful and individualized responses to the myriad intersectional issues that people living with serious mental illness face. Simultaneously the team addresses treatment needs while considering the quality of life and public safety concerns of the community.
This fact sheet provides a brief description of the history, approach, and documented results of the Midtown Community Justice Center, one of the country's first problem-solving courts. It also gives an overview of the Justice Center's programming in areas such as social services, community engagement, and diversion programs.
