Community Justice

We put communities at the heart of delivering justice and safety.

Community Justice is a full-spectrum approach to building safety and racial justice that runs from communities to systems and back again, reducing the harms of both crime and overreliance on traditional responses like incarceration. Community Justice bridges courts, government, and communities, increasing communication, understanding, and trust. Building on the foundation of our first community court in Midtown, we have co-created solutions with a wide range of partners—courts, community members, local businesses, service providers, and people with lived experience in the justice system.

From alternatives to incarceration for people charged with serious offenses to initiatives that empower communities economically, we bring everyone to the table to find evidence-based solutions to complex problems while boosting public trust in the justice system. Our decades of experience working hand in hand with courts and communities in New York and New Jersey help us drive Community Justice nationwide and around the world.

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 Young Adult Court

The Brooklyn Young Adult Court seeks to provide meaningful alternatives to conventional prosecution for young people, ages 18 to 24, charged with misdemeanors.
Brownsville Community Justice Center

The Brownsville Community Justice Center works to reduce crime and incarceration, and strengthen community trust in justice in central Brooklyn.
Harlem Community Justice Center

The Harlem Community Justice Center is a neighborhood-based community court committed to bridging the gap between the court and community to achieve fairness and systematic equity in housing, commu
International Community Court Conferences

Every two years, we bring together passionate people dedicated to innovations in community justice.
Midtown Community Justice Center

The award-winning Midtown Community Justice Center (formerly Midtown Community Court) is one of the country’s first problem-solving courts.
Newark Community Solutions

Newark Community Solutions improves public safety in Newark, NJ, through alternative sentencing programs in the Newark Municipal Court, youth-based services, housing justice initiatives, and other
Red Hook Community Justice Center

The nation's first multi-jurisdictional community court, the Red Hook Community Justice Center seeks to solve neighborhood problems in southwest Brooklyn.

Publications & Digital Media

Label:Publication

Fact Sheet: The Bronx Community Justice Center

The Bronx Community Justice Center works to create a safer, more equitable Bronx through community-driven public safety initiatives, youth opportunity, and economic mobility efforts focused in the South Bronx. Our vision is to support the South Bronx community to become a safe and thriving place where local ownership, community-led investment, and youth opportunity can flourish. The Bronx Community Justice Center works toward this vision by focusing on community safety, restorative practices, and youth and economic development.

Community Justice, Diversion, Placemaking, Reducing Trauma, Reducing Violence, Youth Initiatives
Label:Publication

Health, Housing, and Justice Alliance

by Caitlin Flood, Alyssa Goodpaster, Masha Miura, Kelly Mulligan, and Colleen Smith

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations and institutions to shift to operating remotely, disparities driven by the digital divide became a shared problem across major cross-sector systems important to a community’s well-being. The Health, Housing, and Justice Alliance sought to eliminate inequities of fully virtual legal, healthcare, and social services through the creation of pop-up navigation centers and court hubs throughout Newark, New Jersey.

Access to Justice, Community Justice, Problem-Solving Justice
Label:Video

Changemakers in Action: Kristina Singleton

Kristina Singleton works on diverting people from court into supportive or educational programming. Among the programs she works with at the Midtown Community Court are Project Reset, which offers those charged with a low-level crime the chance to avoid court and a criminal record by completing community-based programming, and a recently launched youth gun-diversion program for young people who have been arrested on gun possession charges.

Community Justice, Diversion, Problem-Solving Justice, Workforce Development

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News

We Don’t Have to Choose Between Safety and Justice

For far too long, we’ve been told that we must choose between justice and safety, that those two goals are in direct competition. Community Justice challenges that false dichotomy, providing a path forward in divided times.
Investing in Financial Empowerment in Red Hook

Our Red Hook Community Justice Center hosted its first workshop series to help residents build their financial literacy skills.
New Rochelle Forges a Path to New Community Justice Center

The New Rochelle Community Justice Center is taking a new approach to building safety across the city by investing in young people's futures.

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Initiatives

Publications & Digital Media

Publications Results

News

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We work with reformers around the world.