Overview
In 2024, seven sites around the country became the newest community courts supported by the Department of Justice-Bureau of Justice Assistance’s 2-year National Community Court Grant Initiative. Each of these sites receives rigorous technical assistance from the Center’s National Training and Technical Assistance Team as they either create new community courts or enhance existing community courts serving their jurisdictions.
Community courts emphasize alternative responses to less serious crime. People who commit lower-level offenses are sentenced to pay back the community through visible restitution projects, including removing graffiti, cleaning neighborhood parks, and helping maintain public spaces.
At the same time, they are linked to drug treatment, mental health services, job training, and other services to help them address the underlying issues that often fuel criminal behavior. Community courts place special emphasis on treating individual participants with dignity and respect. Research has shown that this commitment to procedural justice can reduce crime, improve compliance with court orders, and enhance public trust in the justice system—a particularly pressing need in low-income and minority neighborhoods.
Learn more about each Community Court cohort below.
Alumni
2020 Cohort 2018 Cohort 2016 Cohort
For information about the Mentor Community Courts working with current grantees in the Initiative, click here.