Reversing the United States' over-reliance on incarceration will require rethinking current approaches to offenses involving violence. Judges can play a unique role in this. In October 2018, the Center for Court Innovation, with support from the Joyce Foundation and Latham & Watkins LLP, convened a small group of judicial leaders to grapple with the challenges of alternative sentencing for cases involving violent behavior.

This year’s annual report captures the accomplishments of our more than 500 staff through numbers and stories. Taken together, they paint a picture of positive change: for government systems that have become more responsive to community concerns, for neighborhoods that are moving themselves toward safety and well-being, and for the thousands of people we work with who found healing and an opportunity to build lives outside of the justice system.

The Red Hook Community Justice Center occupies "a unique space as both a community center and a court.” From youth court to peacemaking, BKLYNER profiles our Brooklyn community court and its work reducing both incarceration and crime.

We all want safe neighborhoods, argues our Greg Berman in Governing, but the way we treat many people arrested for low-level offenses does more harm than good. Berman offers New York City as a potential model for other jurisdictions looking to reform low-level justice.