Acknowledging the role of faith, spirituality and/or religion is crucial to enhancing cultural responsiveness and understanding the diverse needs of many people. This fact sheet outlines how faith communities can better support criminalized Black women survivors in their own communities and suggests that broader community-based anti-violence efforts should incorporate faith-based organizations into their responses.
Abusive partner intervention programs for people who harm their intimate partners take a variety of forms. These programs may share a set of guiding principles and serve as one piece within a wider coordinated community response to addressing intimate partner violence. In Native American communities, it is important that programs integrate cultural values and norms as a way to meaningfully engage people who have caused harm in a process of change.
Abusive partner intervention programs traditionally work to reduce recidivism and increase accountability. In this podcast, Juan Carlos Areán from our partner Futures Without Violence, speaks with Terri Strodthoff, executive director of the Alma Center, and Steve Halley, director of the Family Peace Initiative, about the growing recognition of the need to address underlying trauma in work with people who cause harm.
The Driver Accountability Program is an innovative response to driving-related offenses that seeks to improve traffic safety and increase accountability among dangerous drivers. The program is rooted in principles of restorative justice, self-reflection, and self-empowerment. With support from New York City Council, the Center for Justice Innovation operates the program in all five boroughs, playing a critical role in reducing systemic harms caused by fines, criminal convictions, and incarceration.
To help self-represented victims of domestic violence, many family courts have established court-based programs and partnerships that provide tailored civil legal assistance to victims. This document, based on the experience of more than a dozen representative courts, outlines important principles that have made these programs and partnerships effective.
Our year-long study of young New Yorkers in areas with high rates of gun violence found the fear of police and widespread experiences of violence are primary motivations for carrying a gun. The findings suggest public safety efforts centered on law enforcement are failing to make these young people feel safer. The report concludes with recommendations that account for the violence—both interpersonal and systemic—shaping their daily lives.
Over the past 20 years, a growing number of young girls—disproportionately Black girls—have been criminalized and subjected to criminal and juvenile legal involvement. Notably, these girls have often experienced numerous forms of trauma before their involvement in the system, including poverty, racism, sexism, heterocentrism and transphobia, child physical and sexual abuse, sexual assault, dating violence, and exploitation.
The Justice Center endeavors to create conditions for safety by strengthening Brownsville’s social infrastructure, activating its public spaces, and expanding the opportunities available to young people. When crime does occur, it is ensured that the justice system responds in ways that are proportionate, constructive, and restorative.
Punishments for violating the terms of probation are a major driver of prison and jail populations across the country. Calls for meaningful reform are growing. This study examines the impact of New York City’s early efforts to shift to a more client-centered approach to probation, including improved case management and establishing neighborhood-oriented probation offices.