A Coordinated Community Response brings together a diverse group of community partners to develop a shared vision to collectively and consistently address the widespread impact of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and provide multiple pathways to support, healing, and accountability for families.
In collaboration with National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI), the Center for Justice Innovation’s Gender and Family Justice team provides multi-disciplinary training and technical assistance to Improving Criminal Justice System Response (ICJR) grantees and offers support for planning, implementing, and enhancing coordinated community response (CCR) teams. Our work on this project is guided by the following values that reflect the ways in which Coordinated Community Response teams should address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Our analysis of New York City misdemeanor cases shows the system rarely results in criminal convictions but inflicts "process is punishment" effects as people experience arrest, detention, and daylong waits for brief court appearances. We also found stark racial disparities in who is prosecuted. Following from our findings, we offer statewide legislative recommendations for shrinking misdemeanor prosecution.
The first mental health court in New York City, the Brooklyn Mental Health Court seeks to craft meaningful responses to defendants with mental illness. Addressing both treatment needs and public safety concerns, the court links defendants who have serious and persistent mental illnesses (such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) or Neurodevelopmental disorders (such as Autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities, and ADHD) who would ordinarily be jail- or prison-bound to long-term treatment in the community.
In recent years, New York City has seen a steady and alarming increase in traffic-related fatalities. In 2021, the city saw over 50,000 traffic-related injuries and 273 traffic fatalities, marking a record high in fatalities since the Vision Zero NYC legislation was launched in 2014. Traditional legal system responses to driving-related incidents such as fines or incarceration not only fail to address the root problems but also frequently result in increased socioeconomic and racial disparities.
Circles for Safe Streets, a pilot project of the Center for Court Innovation in partnership with Families for Safe Streets, provides a restorative justice response to vehicular crimes resulting in serious injury or death. The program builds on the Center’s work in both Driver Accountability and Restorative Justice, offering an avenue to support both victims and drivers.
These guiding principles were created as part of the Abusive Partner Accountability and Engagement Training and Technical Assistance Project, an initiative funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. They are designed to inform abusive partner intervention programming (APIP), also known as battering intervention, at all stages of intervention—development, implementation, and evaluation. The goal of the principles is to enhance not only programs but also the broader community response to accountability and engagement for people who cause harm through intimate partner violence (IPV).
The Center for Justice Innovation’s Guide to Safe and Equitable Communities shares the principles and practices that we believe underlie the creation of a long-term, resident-led approach to community safety. This approach focuses on community-led, collaborative solutions that build on developing the prerequisites to neighborhood safety—such as education, economic mobility, quality housing, mental health supports, safe public spaces, and opportunities to improved trust both between residents and local systems and among neighbors.
This fact sheet describes the Community Engagement Program offers voluntary resources and mentorship for participants of Bronx Community Solutions. Together with local providers, specialists or “credible messengers” provide support to participants and the Bronx community.
A companion to the Center for Court Innovation’s podcast episode exploring strategies for abusive partner intervention programs within the LGBTQIA+ community, this document discusses the differences between intimate partner violence in cis-heteronormative and LGBTQIA+ relationships.
