Diversion News Archive

Art is a powerful vehicle for racial and social justice. Project Reset partners with Brooklyn Museum to offer individuals with low-level cases the chance to dispose of the case through the study and creation of art that explores perspectives. In this video, teaching artist, Sophia Dawson, and two participants, Denagee and Aristides, share their experiences with NBCLX.

In partnership with the Staten Island District Attorney's Office, Project Reset has expanded to serve clients on Staten Island. Now operating in four boroughs in New York City, Project Reset is a diversion program offering a new response to a low-level arrest that is proportionate, effective, and restorative.

In a call to "create a better, more holistic approach to justice in America," an opinion piece in USA Today includes our Red Hook Community Justice Center and Harlem Community Justice Center as examples of restorative justice programs that focus on healing and break the cycle of justice-involvement. 

Welcome to Newark Youth Court, where a jury of your peers is just that.

The Brooklyn Mental Health Court celebrated its groundbreaking approach to working with defendants with serious mental illnesses.

A profile of two participants of Project Reset, an early diversion program that provides individuals arrested on low-level, non-violent misdemeanors an alternative to appearing in court and a way out of having a criminal record. As one notes, “Because once you get something on your record, you’re just viewed a different way.”

How does a radical idea become policy? And what can we take from the achievements of the campaign to close New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail facility that might help us confront other problems? In the Daily News, our director, Greg Berman, reflects on a landmark day in New York City criminal justice reform.

People arrested for low-level crimes in Brooklyn are getting a chance to avoid the court system if they participate in an art course offered by our Project Reset. A a two-hour class at the Brooklyn Museum helps them reflect on justice and accountability.

Project Reset's goal is “ending a criminal justice system that turns minor offenses, minor crimes into lifelong problems,” New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said at an event at the Brooklyn Museum that marked the citywide expansion of the program.

Project Reset expands to all of Brooklyn in partnership with the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office and the Brooklyn Museum. Our program allows people arrested for low-level offenses to participate in an art course and avoid court and a criminal record.