Center for Court Innovation
TypeNonprofit organization, think tank
HeadquartersNew York, NY, United States
Director
Courtney Bryan
Websitewww.courtinnovation.org/

The Center for Court Innovation is an American non-profit organization headquartered in New York, founded in 1996, with a stated goal of creating a more effective and human justice system by offering aid to victims, reducing crime and improving public trust in justice.[1]

Originally founded as a public/private partnership between the New York State Unified Court System and the Fund for the City of New York, the Center for Court Innovation creates operating programs to test new ideas and solve problems, performs original research to determine what works (and what doesn't), and provides assistance to justice reformers around the world.[2] The center’s projects include community-based violence prevention projects, alternatives to incarceration, reentry initiatives, and court-based programs such as the Midtown Community Court[3] and Red Hook Community Justice Center as well as drug courts,[4] reentry courts,[5] domestic violence courts,[6] mental health courts[7] and others. Their goal is to reduce the use of unnecessary incarceration and promote positive individual and family change.

The center works with jurisdictions around the U.S. and the rest of the world to disseminate lessons learned from innovative programs and provide hands-on assistance to criminal justice practitioners interested in the deployment of new research-based strategies to improve the delivery of justice. The center received an Innovations in American Government Award from the Ford Foundation and Harvard University.[8] The center's first director was John Feinblatt, who went on to serve as a senior advisor to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. From 2002 to 2020, Greg Berman served as director. The current leadership is executive director, Courtney Bryan, along with an advisory board.

History

The Red Hook Community Justice Center

The Center for Court Innovation grew out of an experiment in judicial problem-solving. The Midtown Community Court was created in 1993 to address low-level charges around Times Square.[9] The Midtown Court responds creatively, seeking sentences that are restorative to the victim, defendant, and community.[10] The project’s success in reducing both crime and incarceration led the court’s planners, with the support of New York State’s chief judge, to establish the Center for Court Innovation to serve as an engine for ongoing court reform in New York. According to former New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, "In creating the Center, we essentially adapted a model from the private sector: we chose to make an ongoing investment in research and development, and we chose to shield these functions from the daily pressures of managing the courts. The results have been unmistakable: the Center for Court Innovation has helped keep New York at the forefront of court reform for more than a decade."[1]

The Center for Court Innovation has implemented and run over three dozen operating programs, many of which now function independently of the center. The Center for Court has also produced original research about hundreds of justice initiatives, and hosted tens of thousands of visitors interested in justice reform. Center planners collaborate with practitioners beyond New York, such as government leaders in Great Britain with a goal of replicating the Red Hook Community Justice Center in North Liverpool.[11] Center planners have also worked with officials in San Francisco, who created a new community justice center[12] to serve the city's Tenderloin neighborhood. Among other things, the center helped court planners in San Francisco complete an extensive community planning effort, including a needs assessment.[13]

The center has received numerous awards for its efforts, including the Innovations in American Government Award from Harvard University and the Ford Foundation, the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation[14] from Claremont Graduate University and the Prize for Public Sector Innovation from the Citizens Budget Commission.

Programs

The Center for Court Innovation conceives, plans, and operates programs that seek to test new ideas, solve difficult problems, and achieve system change. Their projects include community-based violence prevention projects, alternatives to incarceration, reentry initiatives, and court-based programs that reduce the use of unnecessary incarceration and promote positive individual and family change. [15] While the center’s programs cover a broad range of topics and differ in size, the approach is always the same: thoughtful, collaborative planning, an emphasis on creativity, and the rigorous use of data to document results. The center’s projects have achieved tangible results like safer streets,[16] reduced levels of incarceration and fear,[17] and improved neighborhood perceptions of justice.

Aside from the Midtown Community Court and Red Hook Community Justice Center, some of the center’s other projects include the Harlem Community Justice Center,[18] Bronx Community Solutions,[19] Queens Youth Justice Center,[20] Brooklyn Treatment Court,[21] Youth Justice Board,[22] Youth Courts,[23] Newark Community Solutions,[24] Brooklyn Mental Health Court,[25] Parole Reentry Court,[26] and Crown Heights Community Mediation Center.[27]

One of their court-affiliated restorative justice programs, Circles for Safe Streets, facilitates discussions between drivers and the people they have injured during a traffic collision.[28]

Professional assistance

The Center for Court Innovation provides hands-on, expert assistance to reformers around the world, including judges, attorneys, justice officials, community organizations, and others. Experts from the center are available to help plan, implement and evaluate new policies, practices, and technologies. Their assistance takes many forms, including help with analyzing data, facilitating planning sessions, and hosting site visits to our operating programs in the New York City area.

The center has won national "requests for proposals" to provide technical assistance in a growing number of areas, including community prosecution, domestic violence, drug courts, technology, tribal justice, procedural justice, and institutionalizing problem-solving justice.[29]

More than a dozen community courts have opened in South Africa,[30] and staff from the center have also worked with officials from Scotland, Japan, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada on adapting the community court model.[31]

The center has published dozens of how-to manuals and best practice guides for criminal justice officials, culling the lessons from successful justice innovations and disseminating them to the field.[32] The center’s web site[33] was named a "Top 10" web site by Justice Served .

Research

The center publishes research about its own experiments and innovative initiatives around the United States and world.[34] Researchers at the center conduct independent evaluations, document how government systems work, how neighborhoods function, and how reform efforts create change. The purpose of the research is to identify best practices as well as strategies that do not work or can be improved.

In 2010, Urban Institute Press published Trial & Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure[35] by Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox. In 2005, The New Press published Good Courts: The Case for Problem-Solving Justice.[36] The first book to describe the problem-solving court movement in detail, Good Courts features profiles of Center demonstration projects, including the Midtown Community Court and the Red Hook Community Justice Center. "Sociologists and those within the legal system will no doubt be intrigued by this accessible and provocative call for change," Publishers Weekly said in its review. All authors’ proceeds from the book, which is being used in law schools and public policy classes, benefit the Center for Court Innovation.[37] The center has also published the books Daring to Fail: First-Person Stories of Criminal Justice Reform,[38] A Problem-Solving Revolution: Making Change Happen in State Courts,[39] Documenting Results: Research on Problem-Solving Justice,[40] and Personal Stories: Narratives from Across New York State.[41]

References

  1. 1 2 "A Decade of Change: The First 10 Years of the Center for Court Innovation" (PDF). Center for Court Innovation.
  2. ↑ See https://www.courtinnovation.org/programs for a complete list of the Center's demonstration projects.
  3. ↑ "Midtown Community Court | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. December 31, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  4. ↑ Eckholm, Erik (October 15, 2008). "Courts Give Addicts a Chance to Straighten Out". The New York Times. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Coming Home to Harlem: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Harlem Parole Reentry Court" (PDF). Center for Court Innovation.
  6. ↑ "Planning a Domestic Violence Court: The New York State Experience" (PDF). Center for Court Innovation.
  7. ↑ "Building Trust and Managing Risk: A Look at a Felony Mental Health Court" (PDF). American Psychological Association.
  8. ↑ "Government Innovators Network: Center for Court Innovation, 2005-05-18 10:03:02". Innovations.harvard.edu. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Neighborhood Justice at the Midtown Community Court". National Institute of Justice.
  10. ↑ Dispensing Justice Locally: The Implementation and Effects of the Midtown Community Court. Routledge. 2000. ISBN 9057026147.
  11. ↑ "Community Justice Centres: A US-UK Exchange" (PDF). British Journal of Community Justice.
  12. ↑ "Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco : Home Page". Sfgov.org. January 1, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Community Justice Center Needs Assessment Report: Tenderloin, South of Market, Civic Center, and Union Square" (PDF). Sfgov.org. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Pacific Standard - Problem-Solving (and Award-Winning) Courts". psmag.com. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  15. ↑ There is a growing body of literature about problem-solving justice. For an explanation of the six key principles underlying problem-solving justice, see "Principles of Problem-Solving Justice" (PDF). Center for Court Innovation.. New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye has written and lectured frequently about problem-solving justice. See, for example, Judith S. Kaye "Delivering Justice Today: A Problem-Solving Approach" in Yale Law & Policy Review, Vol. 22, 2004 and Judith S. Kaye, "Making the Case for Hands-On Courts," Newsweek, Oct. 11, 1999.
  16. ↑ According to an independent evaluation, the Midtown Community Court contributed to a significant drop in local street crime, including a 56 percent decrease in prostitution arrests. See Dispensing Justice Locally: The Implementation and Effects of the Midtown Community Court. Routledge. 2000. ISBN 9057026147.
  17. ↑ A survey of residents of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook found that "respondents reported a significant overall increase in the level of safety they felt at various locations in the community" in the year following the opening of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, one of the Center for Court Innovation's most ambitious demonstration projects. See "Op Data, 2001: Red Hook, Brooklyn: Community Assessment and Perceptions of Quality of Life, Safety and Services" (PDF). Center for Court Innovation.
  18. ↑ "Harlem Community Justice Center | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Bronx Community Solutions | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. December 29, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Queens Youth Justice Center; Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. December 31, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Brooklyn Treatment Court | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. December 31, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  22. ↑ "Youth Justice Board | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. December 31, 2011. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Youth Courts | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Newark Community Solutions | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  25. ↑ "Brooklyn Mental Health Court | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. December 31, 2011. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  26. ↑ "Parole Reentry Court | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  27. ↑ "Crown Heights Community Mediation Center | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. Archived from the original on August 23, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  28. ↑ Cohen, Mari (Fall 2023). "After the Hit-and-Run: Can restorative justice offer crash victims like me—and the drivers who harmed us—the healing we need?". Jewish Currents. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
  29. ↑ "Programs: Community-Based Problem-Solving Criminal Justice Initiative". Ojp.usdoj.gov. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  30. ↑ "New Community Courts Increase Access to Justice in South Africa". America.gov. May 23, 2007. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  31. ↑ For a comprehensive overview of community courts around the world, see "Community Courts Across the Globe: A Survey of Goals, Performance Measures and Operations" (PDF). Criminal Justice Inititiative of Open Society Foundation for South Africa. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 22, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  32. ↑ "Research | Center for Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.org. December 31, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  33. ↑ "The Center for Court Innovation". Archived from the original on November 6, 2006. Retrieved November 6, 2006.
  34. ↑ For a complete list of research papers published by the Center for Court Innovation, see
  35. ↑ "Trial & Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure".
  36. ↑ Berman, Greg (2005). Good Courts: The Case For Problem-solving Justice (9781565849730): Greg Berman, John Feinblatt, Sarah Glazer: Books. ISBN 1565849736.
  37. ↑ "Microsoft Word - WebsiteVersion_sylgrade_.doc" (PDF). Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  38. ↑ "Daring to Fail: First-Person Stories of Criminal Justice Reform".
  39. ↑ Berman, Greg; Fox, Aubrey; Wolf, Robert V. (2004). A Problem-Solving Revolution: Making Change Happen in State Courts (9780975950500): Center for Court Innovation: Books. ISBN 0975950509.
  40. ↑ Berman, Greg; Rempel, Michael; Wolf, Robert V. (2007). Documenting Results: Research on Problem-Solving Justice (9780975950517): Greg Berman, Michael Rempel, Robert V. Wolf: Books. ISBN 978-0975950517.
  41. ↑ "Drug Courts: Personal Stories".

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