What would it mean to decriminalize mental health—to stop criminalizing the symptoms of what is very often untreated mental illness? And what would it mean to put racial justice at the center of that effort? The outcomes of the criminal legal system being what they are, those two questions are really inseparable. Hear a lively discussion on our New Thinking podcast.
How can we better respond to the trauma running through our criminal legal system? Part of the Trauma-Informed Practice Strategy Lab, this guide presents lessons from a national scan of criminal courts working to better support people with histories of trauma and will inform an upcoming blueprint for making trauma-informed approaches in court work on the ground.
Infants and toddlers are overrepresented in the child welfare system and are more likely than older children to be removed from their original caregiver and placed in out-of-home care. According to this new evaluation, implementation of our Strong Starts Court Initiative in a New York City courtroom led to a decrease in removals from their original caregiver and was associated with an increase in children residing with that caregiver a year later.
Housing justice is a through line in the Center for Justice Innovation’s efforts to build safety and racial justice. In our new video, you’ll meet tenants, Center staff, and partners from the community and government working to prevent evictions, respond to tenant needs, and support access to safe, stable, and affordable housing.
The Center for Justice Innovation and RxStat convened together stakeholders in the criminal justice, court, and public health systems to discuss the treatment of drug use and prevention of fatal overdoses in the context of the criminal justice system, as well as the integration of harm reduction principles. This document, which maps many of the court-based problem substance use interventions currently utilized across New York City, came out of this forum of experts.
Margaret’s Place, a school-based initiative intended to provide trauma-informed programming, successfully reached and engaged students and provided comprehensive programing. The program was funded by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office across three school years (2018-19 to 2021-22) in two New York City public schools. The Center for Justice Innovation conducted a comprehensive study documenting the program model and implementation and outlining recommendations for program enhancement and potential expansion.
We talk of “second chances,” but rarely do we recognize that many of the millions of people returning from jail and prison each year never got a first one. This policy brief outlines a new vision for reentry focused on the social integration due to returning citizens. That starts with two priorities: immediate access to housing and to trauma-informed therapy.
Juan Carlos Areán speaks with Amirthini Keefe, executive director of the Domestic Abuse Project (DAP) in Minneapolis, and Sadie Cunningham, intervention and prevention program therapist at DAP, about centering racial justice in abusive partner intervention programs and organizations. The group discusses how survivors and people who cause harm are affected by oppression and how centering racial justice can create holistic interventions for people who cause harm.
In a new report, more than 100 young people in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, open up about why they carry guns. Their answer? Fear—for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. Hear from the people who made the study happen—Javonte Alexander, Basaime Spate, and Elise White—our community researchers with personal ties to the social networks of the young people who shared their experiences.
Our study of more than 100 young gun-carriers in Brooklyn identifies fear—for themselves and their loved ones—as the overwhelming factor behind the decision to carry. Under constant threat from other gun-carriers, as well as from police, and deprived of economic opportunities, participants describe a world with vanishingly few options. This report is part of a first-of-its-kind project using street participatory research to explore the socio-cultural roots of gun-carrying in U.S. cities.