Addressing Racial Disparities

We seek to document and address racial disparities in the justice system.

The Center for Justice Innovation is committed to studying and reducing racial disparities in the justice system. This effort includes bringing together experts to examine the role that race plays in risk assessment instruments; documenting public perceptions of justice among communities of color; advancing culturally responsive programming for domestic violence survivors and their families; and examining how restorative justice might help reduce the racial impacts of disciplinary measures in schools.

Given that nine out of ten people being held in jail in New York City are Black or Latino, we recognize the urgent need for action on a local level. In response, we are taking active steps to reduce the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on communities of color by helping the city to remove hundreds of thousands of summonses from the criminal process, diverting low-level cases prior to any criminal adjudication, and offering alternatives to incarceration to thousands of defendants every year. We are adapting lessons from this work to aid the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, which seeks to reduce the use of jail across the United States and the disparate impact of incarceration on people of color. Through Project SAFE, we're also working to improve the services offered justice-involved Black and African-American women who are survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

Initiatives

  • Bronx Community Solutions

    Bronx Community Solutions provides community-based alternatives to jail, restores community relationships, and helps participants avoid further criminal justice involvement.

  • Brooklyn Justice Initiatives

    Brooklyn Justice Initiatives seeks to improve how the centralized criminal court in Brooklyn responds to misdemeanor and felony cases.

  • Price of Justice Initiative

    The Price of Justice Initiative helps jurisdictions address the disparate impact of fines and fees on defendants who cannot afford them.

  • Project SAFE

    Project SAFE works to improve the services offered to criminalized black women who are survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

  • 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.

Publications & Digital Media

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News

  • Why are so many young people carrying guns?

    August 24, 2023
    WYPR

    “True healing really requires vulnerability, which is next to impossible in situations of fear or intimidation.” Our researchers Basaime Spate and Rachel Swaner join Sheilah Kast about the findings in our youth gun-carrying report, adding to the timely discussion on gun violence in Baltimore. The relationships between fear, vulnerability, and the security of street networks are key themes on this episode of On the Record.

  • Putting the safety on: New gun violence blueprint takes better approach

    August 6, 2023
    New York Daily News

    A new blueprint from the Mayor’s Office outlines a holistic, citywide strategy to curb gun violence in New York, one that works to address some of the underlying social factors—like education and economic opportunity—behind the crisis. This op-ed from the New York Daily News cites our recent study’s finding that young people in Brooklyn overwhelmingly carry guns for protection, making the case for more community investment and less reliance on law enforcement in the struggle to reduce gun violence.
     

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