NEW THINKING:
Podcasts from the Center for Court Innovation
 
Every day, the Center for Court Innovation works with people who are making a difference on the ground--police chiefs testing new approaches to local crime, prosecutors experimenting with alternative sanctions, judges looking for new solutions to complex problems. NEW THINKING introduces listeners to some of these innovators: practitioners and academics who are spearheading meaningful justice reforms across the country and around the globe.  

Releasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities: Reentry, Race, and Politics
What are the challenges facing the hundreds of thousands of people discharged from U.S. prison every year? What are the challenges facing their home communities, which are often poor and under-served? And how did we get here, with millions of Americans--a disproportionate share of whom are African-American--behind bars? New York University Law Professor Anthony C. Thompson tackles these questions in a presentation based on his new book, Releasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities: Reentry, Race, and Politics. (January 2009)
 

Shutting Drug Markets in High Point, North Carolina
Gretta Bush and Bobby Davis of High Point Community Against Violence explain how the Drug Market Initiative—a program developed by David Kennedy of John Jay College of Criminal Justice—offers a sustainable and effective strategy for ending the violence associated with open air drug markets. (December 2009)
 

Will Prison Overcrowding in California Inspire Positive Change?
Joan Petersilia, a law professor at Stanford University who has spent more than 25 years studying the performance of U.S. criminal justice agencies, explains recent court rulings and pending legislation affecting California's overcrowded prisons, what ex-prisoners need to successfully reintegrate into society, and how California's correction system—once a national model—lost its way. (November 2009)
 

Giving the Community a Role in Corrections
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. (October 2009)
 

Harry Belafonte Congratulates Harlem Reentry Court Graduates
Legendary entertainer Harry Belafonte speaks at the 10th graduation ceremony of the Harlem Parole Reentry Court (September 2009).
 

Drug Courts: Past, Present, Future
West Huddleston, CEO of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, talks about his group's new web site, why the nation's 2,300-plus drug courts reach only 10 percent of the people they're designed to help, and what's next on the horizon for the drug court movement. (July 2009)
 

The Challenges of Differentiating among Domestic Violence Offenders
Ronald B. Adrine, a judge since 1982, is the administrative and presiding judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court and also oversees Cleveland's Dedicated Domestic Violence Docket. He talks about the origins of the docket and the challenges of differentiating between defendants who are habitual batterers and defendants who are one-time perpetrators (such as those acting in self defense). He also discusses the development of the Deferred Judgement Initiative, an innovative screening process that identifies first-time defendants considered unlikely to offend again, allowing them to avoid a domestic violence conviction. (June 2009)
 

Sparking Innovation Behind the Scenes
Herb Sturz--who launched many groundbreaking initiatives (including the Vera Institute of Justice, the Midtown Community Court, and Project Renewal to name just a few) and is the subject of a new book, A Kind of Genius, by New York Times reporter Sam Roberts--talks about innovation, the power of private-public collaborations, the founding of the Midtown Community Court, and his current work at the Open Society. (May 2009)
 

Community Policing and Community Courts
After visiting the Harlem Community Justice Center, Katherine McQuay and Zoe Mentel of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) talk about reentry, community policing, and the stimulus package. (April 2009)
 

Addressing Vacant Properties through Prevention, Enforcement and Redevelopment
Roxann Pais, an executive assistant city attorney in the Dallas City Attorney's Office, describes how prosecutors across the U.S. are responding to the crisis in foreclosed and vacant properties. (March 2009)
 

Fighting Mortgage Fraud
Ann Fulmer, a lawyer and community activist, explains how mortgage fraud harms neighborhoods—including her own community outside Atlanta, Georgia—and what residents can do to stop it. (February 2009)
 

Giving Youth a Voice in Justice Policy
Linda Baird discusses the Youth Justice Board, which brings together high schoolers across New York City to study and make recommendations about justice policies that affect their peers. (January 2009)
 

Starting from Scratch in New Orleans
Mary Claire Landry, director of Domestic Violence Services for the Catholic Charities in New Orleans, discusses the challenge of rebuilding effective responses to domestic violence in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. (December 2008)
 

A New Court in California
Judge Wendy Lindley offers a preview of the Orange County Community Justice Center. (November 2008)
 

Community Justice in Baltimore
University of Maryland Law Professor Terry Hickey discusses Baltimore's new Prostitution Court and other community justice initiatives. (October 2008)
 

Member of Parliament Discusses Community Justice
Member of Parliament Nick Herbert talks about his work as Britain's shadow justice minister, the Conservative Party's prospects in the next election, and the importance of problem solving. (September 2008)
 

Harlem Parole Reentry Court
Staff of the Harlem Parole Reentry Court discuss how they help ex-offenders make the transition from incarceration to the community. (July 2008) 

Youthful Offender Domestic Violence Court: Working with Teen Victims and Abusers
Judge Miriam Cyrulnik explains how the court—the first of its kind in the country—addresses the unique needs of adolescent domestic violence victims and perpetrators.(June 2008)
 

Brooklyn Mental Health Court: Linking Offenders to Treatment
Judge Matthew D'Emic and others explain how the Brooklyn Mental Health Court links mentally-ill offenders to treatment and rigorously monitors compliance. (May 2008)
 

UK's Justice Secretary Visits Red Hook
Jack Straw, the United Kingdom’s justice secretary and lord chancellor, visits the Red Hook Community Justice Center in February 2008.
(Click here for photos and more on Straw's visit)
 

Australia's First Community Court: A Conversation with Penny Armytage, (Secretary of Justice in Victoria, Australia)
Secretary of Justice Penny Armytage discusses the successes and challenges of the recently opened Collingwood Neighborhood Justice Centre. (October 11, 2007)
 

Youth Court Movement: A Conversation with Scott Peterson, (Program Manager, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice)
Scott Peterson, who in the early 1990s helped create one of the first youth courts in New York State, talks about the growth of youth courts around the United States during a visit to a statewide youth court conference in Brooklyn in 2007.