Community Justice on the March
Local and state jurisdictions can apply for no-cost assistance to implement a community justice project.
Speakers discuss how the Midtown Community Court uses arts programming to improve justice outcomes.
Last week, we marked the 25th anniversary of the Midtown Community Court with a celebration at the Museum of Modern Art.
Since Midtown began offering new, smarter responses to low-level crime, the idea of community justice has spread far beyond New York City. As U.S. News & World Report recently reported, the Midtown Court has sparked an international movement, encouraging courts to reduce the use of jail and promoting sentences that are restorative to the community, victims, and offenders.
In recent months, we have worked with the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance to promote the spread of community courts. The Community Court Grant Program has enabled us to provide seed funding to 15 courts, including the following five new sites:
- Davidson County (Nashville), Tennessee
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Reno, Nevada
- Puyallup, Washington
- Wilmington, Delaware
We are helping reformers in these places test new approaches to local problems, replacing revolving-door justice with common-sense solutions. As part of the same initiative, we’ve also named four new mentor community courts in Olympia (Washington), Orange County (California), South Dallas (Texas), and Downtown Spokane (Washington).
We invite jurisdictions across the U.S. to apply for no-cost technical assistance to implement a community justice project. Applications are due by January 15, 2019.