The Group Violence Intervention model seeks to reduce violent and gun-related crimes. This report documents the model’s implementation and impact in Newburgh, New York. Results suggest the rate of violent crime in Newburgh was significantly lower than rates seen over the previous five years. While this drop was consistent with broader downward trends, the decline in Newburgh was greater than in neighboring comparison communities.
Can art transform the criminal justice system? On this special edition of New Thinking, host Matt Watkins sits down with two New York City artists on the rise—Derek Fordjour and Shaun Leonardo—who both work with our Project Reset to provide an arts-based alternative to court and a criminal record for people arrested on a low-level charge. With the program set to expand city-wide, the three discuss art's potential to help heal a racialized criminal justice system.
In partnership with the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center and State Justice Institute, the Center developed and pilot-tested a court website prototype founded in procedural justice principles. The idea was to give courts sample language, imagery, and layout advice—informed by a user experience designer—to turn a typical visit to a court website into a trust-building opportunity. This toolkit describes the key building blocks of a model website, strategies for implementation, and lessons learned from pilot courts.
In partnership with the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center and State Justice Institute, the Center developed this toolkit to help judges and other criminal court practitioners improve courthouse signage with the ultimate goals of helping enhance court users’ perceptions of fairness and build (or rebuild) trust and confidence in the justice system. The toolkit is organized by each element of procedural justice—understanding, respect, voice, and neutrality—and is paired with recommendations to help plan a local signage improvement project.
Can changes at a busy urban courthouse make users feel respected, ensure they understand the process, and enhance impressions of the legitimacy of the court? This study looks at a series of improvements to the Manhattan Criminal Court and before-and-after defendant surveys.
Effective January 2020, New York State has passed reforms sharply curtailing the use of bail. This analysis explains several important provisions intended to protect victims of domestic violence and uses data from New York City to explore the reforms' potential implications in such cases.
One of the most popular requests technical assistance providers receive from sites involves developing training programs. Effective community-based training and education centered on domestic violence helps improve the capacity of justice system professionals to respond safely and appropriately in these cases. The following guide contains ideas and recommendations developed to assist courts and communities in all phases of developing and implementing local domestic violence training programs that specifically targets adult learners.
Project Reset is a diversion program operating in three of New York City's five boroughs offering a new response to low-level offending that is proportionate, effective, and restorative. Participants who complete brief community-based programming avoid a criminal record without ever setting foot in a courtroom.
As opioid intervention courts launch across the country, it is increasingly important to define the model and identify the core practices these courts should include. This publication is intended to help urban, suburban, rural, and tribal jurisdictions develop programs that incorporate the practices most likely to prevent overdoses and save lives.
New justice system approaches are needed respond to the opioid crisis and prevent overdose deaths through immediate access to evidence-based treatment—including medication-assisted treatment—and wraparound supports. This document provides a snapshot of some of the strategies being used by courts and justice system practitioners around the country to prevent overdose deaths and save lives.
