This article discusses the Staten Island Youth Justice Center's efforts to reduce the number of youth in preventive detention, detailed case studies of youths who have gone through the program, and some of the challenges of and lessons learned from putting this model into practice. Published in the New York Law School Law Review.
This article reports findings from the National Institute of Justice's Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation concerning the impact of drug courts on crime and incarceration. The study found that drug courts reduced the number of criminal acts by more than half over an 18-month tracking period. Published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, Volume 8, Number 2 (2012), and available from SpringerLink online at http://www.springerlink.com/content/q555w562154l4011/.
This study reports the results of a survey of 1,002 adult residents of New York State concerning their perceptions of the courts. The study found that New Yorkers have high levels of trust and confidence in the courts in general, although racial and ethnic minorities, particularly African-Americans, are far less supportive than are whites. The study also determined that most New Yorkers have little knowledge of how their local courts work.
Derek Miodownik, restorative systems administrator for the Vermont Department of Corrections, talks about the state's innovative experiments in community and restorative justice, including Citizen Reparative Boards, which give panels of community members a role in working with misdemeanor offenders, and Circles of Support and Accountability, which link community members with parolees convicted of serious crimes.
Kristine Herman of the Center for Court Innovation spent three months in Afghanistan helping the attorney general establish the nation's first unit dedicated to prosecuting cases of violence against women. She spoke with the Center's Director of Communications Robert V. Wolf about her experience.
There are dozens of community courts in the U.S. and around the world. This paper explains how they've adapted key principles of problem-solving justice—such as enhanced information, community engagement, collaboration, and accountability—to local conditions.
Kathryn Z. Davies has served as an Onondaga County Support Magistrate in the Fifth Judicial District of the New York State Unified Court System for the past 25 years.
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