Diversion

NCS diversion with clients
We seek to provide meaningful off-ramps at various stages of the criminal justice process in order to achieve better outcomes for arrestees.

These off-ramps include diverting people from traditional sentencing—and, in some cases, formal case processing—into community-based interventions. The goal is to reduce crime, incarceration, and the collateral consequences of justice-involvement. We offer responses to law-breaking behavior that are proportionate, that emphasize accountability, and that connect participants with social services to reduce the probability of future offending.

Examples of this work include Midtown Community Court, Red Hook Community Justice Center, Newark Community Solutions, Bronx Community Solutions, Brooklyn Justice Initiatives, and Project Reset. Many of these programs have been documented to reduce the use of jail by increasing the availability of meaningful alternatives, including community restitution and social services. Together, our programs divert close to 20,000 people every year from conventional processing and sentencing.

In addition to operating our programs, we have also provided research and strategic support to the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform which laid out a series of reforms to cut the city’s jail population in half in coming years. And we’re engaged in two ambitious national justice-reform initiatives: The MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, and The Price of Justice, a program of the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Our research department conducts evaluations of programs taking place across the country, including a recent series of reports on national police- and prosecutor-led initiatives.

Initiatives

  • Brooklyn Mental Health Court

    The Brooklyn Mental Health Court offers community-based treatment in lieu of incarceration to defendants with serious mental health diagnoses.

  • Brooklyn Treatment Court

    The Brooklyn Treatment Court links defendants with substance use disorders to treatment as an alternative to incarceration.

  • Brooklyn Young Adult Court

    The Brooklyn Young Adult Court seeks to provide meaningful alternatives to conventional prosecution for young people, ages 18 to 24, charged with misdemeanors.

  • Project Reset

    Project Reset is a diversion program offering a new response to a low-level arrest that is proportionate, effective, and restorative.

  • Rethinking Rikers Island

    By providing support to the Independent Commission on Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, we're aiding in the effort to reduce New York City’s jail population and close Rikers Island.

  • Supervised Release Program

    The Supervised Release Program reduces the number of people held in jail simply because they cannot afford bail.

Publications & Digital Media

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News

  • Changemakers in Action: Saadiq Newton-Boyd

    Saadiq Newton-Boyd knows from his experience with Brooklyn Justice Initiatives that you have to genuinely see potential in the community and let its members lead the way on the solutions to enact positive change. 

  • Changemakers in Action: Anna Pomper

    Anna Pomper believes that we can work towards healing through people-centered justice: how we treat each other and how we address harm when it’s caused.

  • What Responsibility Do Courts Bear for the Crisis at Rikers Island?

    October 9, 2021
    The New Yorker

    Eric Lach for the New Yorker spends time in the courtroom at arraignment to understand some of the factors fueling the current crisis on Rikers Island. The article cites our research that identified a 2020 spike in judges setting bail and explores the alternatives that judges have to bail--like someone being released on their own recognizance or supervised release.

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