Rural communities face unique challenges in responding to incidences of domestic violence, due to geographic isolation and a lack of resources, among other factors. Such challenges make it difficult for survivors in rural areas to seek safety. These 10 practices for criminal courts in rural communities offer strategies to protect survivors’ safety and well-being, engage with abusive partners and hold them accountable, and collaborate within the community.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, funds a training and technical assistance initiative to support the protection of constitutional rights under the Sixth Amendment. The training and technical assistance initiative is a unique project aimed at enhancing the capacity of state and local governments to uphold Sixth Amendment rights. This 2021 Program Overview describes the work of the Center for Court Innovation (the Center) and its partner, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA).
On New Thinking, an audio snapshot from an emergency rally demanding immediate measures to release people from New York City’s Rikers Island jail facility. Twelve people have died in the custody of the city’s jail system this year as the chief medical officer for NYC Jails warns of “a collapse in basic jail operations.”
Families in our Strong Starts Court Initiative, which supports young children and their families who are in New York City Family Court due to allegations of abuse or neglect, have fewer subsequent child welfare petitions than families not receiving enhanced support.
In this episode, our host Juan Carlos Areán is joined by Dr. Charvonne Holliday, assistant professor in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, attorney Casey Gwinn, President of the Alliance for Hope International, and Dr. Chan Hellman, professor at the Ann and Harry Zara School of Social Work and Director of the Hope Research Center of the University of Oklahoma. The group discusses the science of hope and how it can be applied to intimate partner violence.
With support from the Clinical Scholars Program, a national health leadership initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Newark Community Solutions convened a group of cross-sector service organizations and community members as part of the Health, Housing, and Justice Access (HHJ) project. The goal was to increase equity and accessibility for virtual health, social service, and court proceedings during the pandemic.
Domestic violence cases involve serious safety concerns that make monitoring compliance especially difficult. Abusive partners may continue to harass and coerce their intimate partners without the knowledge of the justice system. For courts seeking to ensure compliance and support behavior change among people who abuse their partners, strong communication and collaboration with probation departments is key.
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, abusive partner intervention program (APIP) providers across the country have adapted their services to help promote healing and foster accountability during these unprecedented times.
Drug courts face an obligation to rethink some core practices, chiefly the focus on abstinence and the use of jail. Our publication argues the best way for the courts to evolve is to integrate the principles of harm reduction—a person-centered, anti-racist approach to reducing the harms related to drug use. The authors offer 12 strategies to help drug courts re-align with their original mission: a therapeutic, health-based alternative to jail.
The Center for Court Innovation, in partnership with the New York State Unified Court System, Office for Justice Initiatives, Division of Policy and Planning, and the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, created this report, which identifies ways for opioid courts and other drug treatment courts to improve access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD).
