2021 Highlights: Influencing Policy and On-the-Ground Practice
Thanks to your support, the Center for Court Innovation continues pushing for fairness and equity.
By publishing data-driven research and empowering neighborhoods, we are influencing the policies and supporting the community-led justice initiatives that will shape the future of justice. Our videos, podcasts, and reports are helping policymakers, leaders, and community members build a fair and humane justice system.
Here are our top publications and releases of 2021:
Celebrating 25 years of transforming justice
To kick off our 25th anniversary, the Center hosted The Future Depends on Community-Led Justice, a virtual conversation with community leaders actively engaged in changing things on the ground. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey gave opening remarks.
Paving the way to close the jails on Rikers Island
As longtime advocates of closing Rikers, we create alternatives to incarceration to keep people safely out of jail. As conditions were worsening on Rikers, our team released Closing Rikers: A Roadmap for Reducing Jail in New York City, which lays out concrete, data-driven strategies to speed the jail’s closure.
Sharing new ideas on mental health and policing
If you call 911 because of a broken arm, you get an ambulance. But if you call 911 because of a mental health emergency, you are likely to get armed police officers. On our podcast New Thinking, we look at how mental health emergencies are handled and share a vision for transforming those responses.
Crunching the numbers on bail reform
Looking back on one year of data on New York State’s changes to bail, we found the reforms produced significant and sustained reductions in the use of bail and jail. But in New York City, we found the law’s impact was diminished by a mid-year spike in bail-setting by judges, as some public officials made unsupported claims that linked bail reform to a spike in gun violence.
Supporting children in the justice system
It can be scary and re-traumatizing when children experience the justice system as victims or witnesses. We created first-of-their-kind illustrated books that provide trauma-informed age-appropriate information so kids know what to expect in these difficult situations and help them feel empowered.