Is your jurisdiction seeking to strengthen Sixth Amendment protections? Watch the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Center for Justice Innovation, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers discuss exciting opportunities for no-cost training and technical assistance through BJA’s Justice for All program.
Each year, courts and government entities at all levels of jurisdiction assess millions of dollars in fines and fees. Watch this webinar to learn about an exciting opportunity to Rethink the Consequences of Fines and Fees. The Bureau of Justice Assistance will be offering no-cost assistance to jurisdictions across the country to examine and improve the administration of justice in this area.
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.
In 2024, the Center for Justice Innovation’s Gender and Family Justice team hosted its first virtual conference focused on abusive partner intervention programming; featuring 23 thought leaders and practitioners from the field sharing lessons learned about developing, implementing, and facilitating trauma-informed and culturally responsive programming.
Across the country, governments are shoring up responses to crime, rather than minimizing the need for these responses in the first place. Highlighting recent research and encouraging examples of innovation, this policy brief makes the case that community safety is part of community justice, and that public safety investment needs to be expanded "upstream," beyond the boundaries of the criminal legal system.
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.
This fact sheet provides a brief description of the history, approach, and documented results of the Midtown Community Justice Center, one of the country's first problem-solving courts. It also gives an overview of the Justice Center's programming in areas such as social services, community engagement, and diversion programs.
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.