The Manhattan Misdemeanor Mental Health Court helps people with mental health issues and co-occurring disorders engage meaningfully in social services that seek to reduce their involvement in the justice system. Launched in March 2022, our team works with participants to craft meaningful and individualized responses to the myriad intersectional issues that people living with serious mental illness face. Simultaneously the team addresses treatment needs while considering the quality of life and public safety concerns of the community.
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.
In New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) houses, tenants regularly experience months without cooking gas, weeks without electricity, and days without heat. The NYCHA Utility Accountability Act is pending state legislation that advances racial justice by reducing tenant rent during utility outages and will provide much-needed relief for these disruptions to daily life. Learn more about the NYCHA Utility Accountability Act.
In collaboration with the Housing Solutions Lab at New York University’s Furman Center, this new report explores ways that actors in the justice system and housing agencies can partner to break the cycle of housing insecurity and system involvement. Using a national survey, practitioner interviews, and program assessments, the paper explores the innovative policies and programs and the keys to successful collaborations in this space.
To effectively address the problem of mass incarceration, prosecutors must adopt ways to respond to cases involving violence that don’t rely on jails and prisons. The "Prosecutors and Responses to Crimes of Violence: Notes from the Field" document offers in-depth case study findings and is intended as a tool for jurisdictions looking to expand alternative approaches to crimes of violence.
Researchers Lenore Lebron and Tia Pooler discuss their ongoing efforts to oversee the use of the CCAT in the field, including identifying trends, monitoring accuracy, and confirming responsiveness to associated populations. Tia and Lenore present recommendations for jurisdictions collecting and using their own data.
Arielle Freedman, Associate Director for Pretrial Clinical Practice at the Center for Justice Innovation, underscores the importance of using the CCAT interview as a starting point for building a foundation of trust and rapport with participants. She encourages practitioners to be responsive, person-centered, and aware of their own internal biases and projections in their work with participants.
Sarah Thompson, Therapeutic Court Coordinator of Spokane Municipal Court in Washington, discusses the administration of the CCAT by Spokane's 4-member therapeutic team to identify an individual's risk and need levels. Assessed risk and need levels then help determine how staff can most appropriately respond. In addition, Sarah explains how the CCAT interview is also a place to holistically hear from an individual, guiding staff as they identify more acute or more specific needs that staff can then work to directly address.
The Recovery and Reform team provides high-quality training and technical assistance to improve community and legal system responses to behavioral health and reduce harm to individuals and communities. This work is guided by our values: person-centered practices, equitable collaboration, transformative impact, and anti-racist and anti-oppressive framework. Learn more about this team's work and how they can assist jurisdictions and communities across the country.
Oregon broke with the War on Drugs three years ago, decriminalizing the possession of most illicit drugs. The measure promised instead a "health-based approach." But the state has just ended the short-lived experiment. The law faced stiff headwinds from the start: from fentanyl's arrival to a relentless opposition campaign. But part of what went wrong was a challenge for any legislation: implementation. How do you make a sweeping new approach work on the ground?