|
2008
Youth Justice Board Fuels Calls for Change
City Limits Weekly
April 14, 2008
Members of the Center for Court Innovation's Youth Justice Board have contributed momentum to a movement calling for more young people to participate in their own Family Court hearings, according to an article in City Limits Weekly.
http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?articlenumber=3536
Arrest John, er... Eliot, right now!
NY Daily News
March 15, 2008
Now on the bench as Manhattan's "King of Prostitution," Weinberg puts himself in the other person's shoes but does not allow those shoes to walk all over him. He insists defendants say "yes" rather than "yeah" and you had better not chew gum when you step before him.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/03/15/2008-03-15_arrest_john_er_eliot_right_now.html
Seeing Justice Being Done
The (U.K.) Guardian
February 16, 2008
By no stretch of the imagination could New York - or Liverpool or Salford - be described as soft cities. Nor could community courts or community penalties be described as the soft option. Community justice works by making courts more responsive to the priorities of local people. By strengthening the links between the courts and the community, I believe people's confidence in the work of the court will rise and the community will feel more confident about tackling offending behaviour.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jack_straw/2008/02/seeing_justice_being_done.html
2007
Cops, Teens, Join Forces for Comedy Acts
NY Daily News
December 18, 2007
We wanted to create a level playing field for the officers and the teens, one where both could communicate and build relationships they wouldn't have otherwise," said Amy Roza, director of youth services at the justice center.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2007/12/18/2007-12-18_cops_teens_join_forces_for_comedy_act.html
Ikea Offers Job Training in Red Hook
NY Daily News
December 10, 2007
With six months to go before the Red Hook Ikea is slated to open, the home
furnishing giant has been quietly providing area residents with free job
and computer-training classes.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2007/12/10/2007-12-10_ikea_offers_job_training_in_red_hook.html
San Francisco Moves to Swifter Justice for Quality-of-Life Victims
San Francisco Sentinel
December 7, 2007
The City pledge of swifter justice for quality of life victims and mandaged help for offenders moved to brick and mortor Thursday with announcement of Community Justice Center (CJC) location set to open in July.
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=7775
Outreach Helps City to Create New Court
Newark Star Ledger
December 5, 2007
Newark officials will ask residents what services they would like to see as they launch an effort to make social services more available to defendants in municipal court. Instead of just holding trials and sentencing defendants for their crimes, the court will make an effort to address the underlying problems.
http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1196832927296950.xml&coll=1
Youth Court Allows Kids to Judge Their Peers
WNYC
November 15, 2007
Youth courts are expanding across New York City and state.
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/88965
"Court of Second Chances" Coming to Glasgow; Prison
Alternatives To Be Used
The Herald (Glasgow)
November 5, 2007
Scotland's first community court, based on a radical U.S. model that works by giving offenders education, drug programmes and reparation orders rather than prison, is being planned for Glasgow's east end.
http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/news/69221.html
Justice Slow for Women Abused by Partners
The Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
November 5, 2007
On paper, the Crown attorney’s office is supposed to push domestic violence offences through more quickly than others, but overcrowded courts can make that impossible.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/976661.html
Brooklyn’s Red Hook Community Justice Center Sets Positive Precedent
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
October 19 , 2007
The Red Hook Justice Center is much more than a courthouse, said Brooklyn Justice Alex Calabrese, who joined a panel discussion on “Innovations in Design: Collaboration and the Problem-Solving Courthouse.” The Red Hook courthouse also functions as a community resource center where court officers give after-school tutoring sessions and the Friends of Coffey Park, a volunteer group, meets to organize clean-up projects.
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=16178
B.C. Judges Get Lessons from Abroad in Setting Up Community Courts
The Vancouver Sun
September 29, 2007
More than 500 judges from across the United States and Canada gathered in Vancouver for a joint conference of the Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges and the American Judges Association.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=ca457ce5-6931-4d46-afaa-5b6c601d9e31
Red Hook Community Justice Center Video
Global BC
September 18 , 2007
Click here to see the video
A Court Where Solutions Rule
San Francisco Chronicle
August 12, 2007
If it is the goal and the desire of San Franciscans to reform and humanize the criminal courts, then the Community Justice Center plan is a reasonable, and perhaps positive, step.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/12/INGRDRG1VG1.DTL
Foster Teens Grab Reins of Plans for Their Lives
City Limits WEEKLY
June 25, 2007
Before a standing room only crowd gathered in the stately law library of New York Family Court in Manhattan last Thursday afternoon, a group of teenagers reported that youth in foster care would be better served if they were more involved in the process aimed at finding them a permanent home.
http://citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?articlenumber=3357
This Time, It's For Fun
New York Times
June 10, 2007
Mr. Fagan is a 38-year-old case manager for Bronx Community Solutions, a nonprofit group that looks for alternatives to jail time for people convicted of low-level crime. He hatched the idea for a basketball league facing ex-offenders against police officers in the tense aftermath of the police shooting of Sean Bell.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/nyregion/thecity/10exco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Bronx Community Solutions' Step Streets Project
WNBC.COM
June 2007
Some people who commit misdemeanors pay their dues by cleaning the oft-neglected "step streets."
http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=111459
"Quality of Life: Will It Go on Trial?"
San Francisco Chronicle
April 29, 2007
He jokingly refers to himself as Manhattan's King of Prostitution. Might as well be the King of Illegal Street Vending, Public Urination, Graffiti, Disorderly Conduct, Subway Fare-Beating and Aggressive Panhandling, too. These are the cases New York Supreme Court Judge Richard Weinberg presides over every weekday at the Midtown Community Court.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/29/MNGI3PHO3O1.DTL&hw=weinberg&sn=001&sc=1000
"They're Courting Changes That Would Benefit Fellow Teenagers"
NY Daily News
April 23, 2007
They've studied recidivism among their just-released-from-prison peers, and school safety, to little effect. Maybe the third time's the charm. Next month, the 17 teenage members of the Youth Justice Board, a project of the Center for Court Innovation, will release their recommendations to improve the city's Family Court System.
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/2007/04/23/2007-04-23_theyre_courting_changes_that_would_benef-2.html
"Help Them Hold Crown Heights Together"
NY Daily News
April 1, 2007
The Crown Heights Community Mediation Center on Kingston Ave. sits quietly perched in the middle of an urban war zone, dispensing peace, nurturing, learning and common sense in a neighborhood that desperately needs more of it.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/col/louis/index.html
"A 'Simple Concept' Goes Global"
New York Law Journal
January 19, 2007
The lawyers and the policy makers who launched the Center for Court Innovation 10 years ago knew it would be a splendid idea to expand on the experimental Midtown Community Court and create a formal research and development program for the New York court system. But they had little inkling of how attractive the concept would be to judiciaries beyond the state, and beyond America's borders. www.law.com/jsp/nylj/index.jsp (subscription required)
"OUT THERE Courting Change"
Urbanite
January 2007
On a rainy Friday afternoon in the Red Hook district of Brooklyn, New York, Judge Alex M. Calabrese presides over the only courtroom in a community justice center located a block from the Red Hook Houses, one of the largest housing projects in Brooklyn. He sits there surrounded by lawyers and clerks, defendants and court officers—all the ingredients of a cinematic court scene. However, the plots and climaxes that take place in this courtroom are not typical of any television program.
http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/sub.cfm?sectionID=4&articleID=589&IssueID=44
2006
"76th Precinct Looks to Keep 2006 Murder-Free"
Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier
December 8, 2006
So far, the precinct that covers Red Hook, Brooklyn, and surrounding neighborhoods has seen zero murders in 2006, and police are sharing credit with the Red Hook Community Justice Center.
http://www.carrollgardenscourier.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2384&dept_id=552855&newsid=17569092
"Expansion for US-style community court trials"
The Times
November 28, 2006
American-style community justice centres in which the public has a say in penalties imposed for crime and anti-social behaviour are to be set up in England and Wales, the Lord Chancellor announced.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2474785,00.html
“Under one roof, trial, penalty and civics lesson”
New York Times
August 22, 2006
The Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn combines elements of criminal and family courts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/nyregion/22court.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=nyregion&adxnnlx=1156334448-cYjjn0D4IvGq48ydknEppw
“In Brooklyn Court, a route out of jail for the mentally ill”
The Wall Street Journal
August 21, 2006
Judge Matthew Jude D'Emic of the Brooklyn Mental Health Court summoned Kalvin Berry to the bench to find out why he had been arguing with his court-appointed therapists.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB115612289675340691-lMyQjAxMDE2NTI2MTEyMjEyWj.html
“Blair's legal balancing act”
BBC News
June 23, 2006
So, what does Tony Blair mean by rebalancing criminal justice? Some of the blueprint for reform was outlined in a low-key consultation paper issued by the lord chancellor in April.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5110884.stm
“How New York got its groove back... and what it could mean for Minneapolis”
Star Tribune
June 11, 2006
The perception that downtown Minneapolis has a crime problem threatens the district's future. Lessons that could help are available in another city: New York.
“Mental Health Court-A Different Kind of Justice”
New York One
May 31, 2006
The court that tries to keep people out of prison is on the side of the justice system we rarely get to see. In the first of a three part series, NY1's Solana Pyne looks at Brooklyn's Mental Health court where the judge offers treatment instead of jail time.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=59853&search_result=1&stid=6
“Keynote Speech by American Court Reformer”
Strathclyde Police
April, 2006
Scottish police officers have been hearing how innovative court reforms in America have enhanced the US criminal justice service.
http://www.tayside.police.uk/newsarchiveitem.php?id=443&mon=4&year=2006
“Community Sentencing Judge”
Canadian Broadcasting Company
March 6, 2006
In the world of television, in this case, the show Law and Order—justice is swift, fair and usually right. But in the real world of Canadian courtrooms, the wheels of justice can churn for months, or years. And sentences don't often satisfy anyone—not the victims, not the perpetrators, not the community.
[scroll down to “The Current: Part 3”]
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2006/200603/20060306.html
Top judge eyes reforms to be more “responsive”
Abbotsford-Mission Times
February 24, 2006
There might be changes coming in the provincial justice system that could lead to the reduction of the number of property crimes, which B.C.'s top judge admitted are "out of control."
http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/issues06/024206/news/024206nn7.html
“Many in Domestic Violence Community Question Batterer Intervention Programs”
New York Law Journal
February 23, 2006
Every year in domestic violence courts in New York City and numerous counties throughout the state, prosecutors recommend, and judges approve, dozens of defendants a month for “batterer intervention programs.”
http://ncdsv.org/images/ManyDVCommunityQuestionBattererInterventionPrgrms.pdf
“Does community justice work?”
BBC News
February 19, 2006
A new community court in Liverpool has been pioneering a new form of justice with a single judge and allowing local people to have their say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4728676.stm
The Brian Lehrer Show, “Extra Legal”
WNYC-New York Public Radio
February 13, 2006
Featuring Hon. Alex Calabrese, presiding judge, Red Hook Community Justice Center and Greg Berman, director of the Center for Court Innovation and co-author of Good Courts: The Case for Problem-Solving Justice (The New Press, 2005)
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2006/02/13
2005
“Community Court officially opened”
BBC News
October 20, 2005
A groundbreaking community centre aimed at dealing with problems such as bad behaviour has officially opened.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/4347430.stm
“Community Courts Backed”
The Vancouver Sun
October 13, 2005
Vancouver - B.C.'s chief judges want to create a new community court that would get the public involved in punishing and rehabilitating chronic repeat offenders of property crime, many of whom suffer from drug addiction and mental health problems.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/archive/index.php/t-268586.html
“Community Courts To Be Tried on Larger Scale in the Bronx”
The New York Sun
October 7, 2005
Community courts have had such success in Midtown, Harlem, and Red Hook, according to the New York State Unified Court System, that it's time to try them on a larger scale—the Bronx.
http://www.nysun.com/article/21190
“Volunteers to keep criminals on side”
Liverpool Daily Post
September 26, 2005
Convicted criminals could be assigned mentors who will offer practical and emotional support during their sentence. Side by Side is the latest project to come from a New York-style Community Justice Centre in Liverpool where local people help set the penalties for crime and anti-social behaviour.
read here
“A New Order in the Court”
Mother Jones
July 1, 2005
An estimated 73 percent of domestic violence assaults go unreported, largely because of women’s lack of faith in the system, according to the National Institute of Justice. Filing a report means dealing with a justice system that forces women to testify, bounces them between multiple courtrooms, and leaves them vulnerable.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/07/court.html
“Youth Justice Board – Teenagers Studying (Not Committing) Crime”
Gotham Gazette
July, 2005
The first juvenile delinquents in New York City go back to 1797; these were the first young New Yorkers, in any case, who were thrown in (the newly built) jail.
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article//20050728/4/1493
“Good Courts: An Interview with Greg Berman”
Mother Jones
June 18, 2005
Our criminal courts aren't working, argues the author. Time to give "problem-solving justice" a shot.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2005/06/good_courts.html
“Teen Justice in Red Hook”
WNYC
May 31, 2005
An experiment in criminal justice grows in Brooklyn. As we reported on Morning Edition last week, the Red Hook Community Justice Center is taking a novel approach at justice.
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/47817
“In Problem-Solving Court, Judges Turn Therapist”
New York Times
April 26, 2005
The traditional role of a judge is a stark one: to decide who wins and who loses, who is innocent and who is guilty, who goes to prison and who goes free.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/nyregion/26courts.html?ex=1272168000&en=f23582f0013769e6&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Australia and New Zealand
“One-stop justice on the way”
The Age
April 23, 2005
Victoria is to get a speedy "one-stop" court handling everything from family disputes and tenancy complaints to minor crimes and civil cases. The court, part of a new Neighbourhood Justice Centre, could handle cases within a two day period.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Onestop-justice-on-the-way/2005/04/22/1114152321835.html
“Are Drug Courts a Solution to the Drug Problem?”
Urban Institute
April 5, 2005
ROBERT D. REISCHAUER, Urban Institute: I'm Bob Reischauer. I'm the president of the Urban Institute and I want to welcome you all to this First Tuesday forum. The First Tuesdays are occasions in which the Urban Institute invites a knowledgeable audience and people with different perspectives to discuss issues that have a bearing on the type of research that we're doing here. And we are very fortunate today to have a very particularly distinguished panel, and I will introduce them in the order in which they are going to speak.
http://www.urban.org/publications/900803.html
2004
“Teens Take the Gavel to Judge Peers”
The Christian Science Monitor
Dec 21, 2004
"Order in my court!" snaps the judge, all of 15 years old. "Everybody, stop flying around in my court!" She raps her gavel on the bench. The rambunctious jurors stop flirting with one another, and peace is restored. It's a typical evening at the Harlem Youth Court, where neighborhood teenagers act as judge, jury, and lawyers at trials of peers.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1221/p14s01-legn.html
“Where Justice and Mercy Meet”
Village Voice
July 27, 2004
Every Tuesday morning, Judge Matthew D'Emic's courtroom brims with people who have unusual stories. A college student, convinced he was Jesus Christ, went on a robbery spree. A 19-year-old gave birth at home, then headed for a window and dropped her baby out. A young man burned down his mother's apartment after he heard voices ordering him to light the curtains on fire. A teenage girl, arrested for a minor crime, once tried to boil a puppy in front of her family.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0430,gonnerman,55415,1.html
2003 - earlier
“A Dignitary Examines Community Court”
New York Times
December 16, 2003
Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the highest-ranking judicial official in Britain, visited the Midtown Community Court yesterday and pronounced himself ''utterly delighted.'' It would probably be safe to argue that he was the first lord to visit the state's little community court, and the noblest dignitary ever to be so happy to walk in the steps of New York's criminal defendants.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30A17F63A580C758DDDAB0994DB404482 (fee required)
‘All-in one’ court to open here”
The Guardian
December 9, 2003
The first integrated domestic violence court in the UK, modelled on the one Cherie Booth visited in Washington DC, will be launched soon in Croydon, south London. The Croydon pilot, set up with the help of the New York-based Centre for Court Innovation, will deal with overlapping criminal and family cases.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1102879,00.html
“Community Justice Concepts and Delivery”
New Statesman
November 12, 2003
The lines of responsibility and accountability for “community justice” are becoming increasingly blurred, requiring greater collaboration between public authorities and other organisations to develop and implement joined-up solutions. Demoralised communities living in run-down or neglected built environments characterised by vandalism and high
levels of antisocial behaviour need to know that the broader social issues will be tackled.
http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/pdf/communityjustice2003supp.pdf
“Court Treatment System Is Found to Help Drug Offenders Stay Clean ”
New York Times
November 9, 2003
Nonviolent drug offenders who complete judge-supervised treatment programs are significantly less likely to commit crimes again than those who serve prison time, according to a new study by an independent research arm of the New York State court system.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F04E2DB1039F93AA35752C1A9659C8B63
“US court inspires Liverpool project”
BBC News
September 18, 2003
As plans for Britain's first community justice centre take shape, the BBC's Washington correspondent Matt Wells looks at the American project that inspired it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3119408.stm
“Justice at Red Hook”
The Guardian
April 15, 2003
Offenders in one of New York's toughest areas are being counselled instead of jailed - and it's an experiment that may be copied here. Edward Helmore reports.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/story/0,3605,936970,00.html
“A Court of Second Chances”
Christian Science Monitor
Aug 22, 2002
For two years, Alex Calabrese has presided over a courtroom in one of Brooklyn's toughest neighborhoods. But today, sitting in the former parochial school that houses the Red Hook Community Justice Center, he sounds more like a small-town principal than a New York City judge. "Are you studying as much as you used to?" Judge Calabrese asks the dark-haired 16-year-old before him. The teen, accused of marijuana possession, stares at his feet.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0822/p11s02-usju.html
“Community courts mix punitive, preventive”
USA Today
April 17, 2002
PHILADELPHIA — Chaney Ross' 51st birthday celebration was a memorable one, though not in the way he had expected. On the big day, a Thursday in late March, the self-described "more or less homeless" man bought beer and repaired to a parking lot in the tony Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/04/17/community-courts.htm
“Red Hook Community Justice Center”
Gotham Gazette
July 2000
The defendant, charged with drug possession, walked to the front of the courtroom, her head down, her hands clasped behind her back, as Judge Alex Calabrese peered down at her, and pronounced her sentence: Job training. Community service
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/20000701/4/143
“A Case Study in Court Reform”
CommonWealth
Spring 1999
For sheer diversity of activities, New York's Midtown Community Court, located off Eighth Avenue on the edge of the Manhattan theater district, is unique in the halls of American justice.
http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=344&pub_id=934&bypass=1
|
