Scaling Community Justice Nationwide

We cannot incarcerate our way to safety.

Public safety is built on vibrant, flourishing communities. The Center for Justice Innovation knows how to build new pathways to safety and justice. At Community Justice Solutions, we work with communities—big and small, rural and urban—to design holistic, effective, and data-driven ways to respond to and prevent crime and violence.

Drawing on our three decades of field-leading research and on-the-ground implementation in all 50 states, Community Justice Solutions is ready to help you identify challenges and opportunities across the full spectrum of the justice system.

Our Approach

• Listen and Collaborate
• Co-Create New Ideas
• Turn Data into Action

Community Justice Solutions is led by experienced problem-solvers. We bring the right people together, bridging the gap between communities, courts, governments, and local leaders. No two places are alike, so what worked in Portland, Oregon may not work in Portland, Maine. We don’t offer a one-size-fits-all solution. We work with you to create solutions that work for your community…

The Center has partnered with courts and communities to pilot and scale new approaches since 1993, launching the nation’s first community court and creating programs that have now expanded to include work like alternatives to bail, alternatives to incarceration, restorative justice programs, and placekeeping that builds neighborhood safety from the ground up.

We work with communities on a range of issues, including:

• the intersection of housing needs and system involvement
• community-based responses to intimate partner violence innovative
• innovative responses from courts to address the true true drivers of crime
• restorative, holistic responses to harm, trauma, and crime
• upstream community-based interventions that prevent crime and crime and system-involvement

How We Work

The Life Cycle of Innovation

At the Center for Justice Innovation, our process is unique. The court- and community-based work of our 30 on-the-ground programs in New York and New Jersey directly inform the work of Community Justice Solutions, and the conversations and recommendations we make to our partners. We help identify goals and define success, while building long-term capacity for data-driven policy and practice.

A National Lens: Housing Is Justice

Justice systems and housing agencies can better collaborate to break cycles of criminal legal system involvement and housing instability. The Center’s national survey and scan of more than 50 programs helped identify cross-sector innovations that bring safe, stable housing to people who are system-involved. Housing experts are available to help bring these solutions to your community.

Build a Culture of Data

Collecting and analyzing data is core to our approach with any partner or project. Our in-house researchers help translate findings to help system leaders understand complex problems. We help you build long-term capacity for data-driven policy and practice with tailored recommendations and hands-on support.

Leading the Way to Survivor Safety

Engaging people who cause harm through intimate partner violence is critical to survivor safety. The roots of such violence are many, and Community Justice Solutions has developed multiple pathways to healing and accountability. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, we’ve piloted the Parenting After Violence program to work with fathers who have caused violence. The curriculum was developed along with national experts and local practitioners. Parenting and intimate partner violence don’t happen in isolation; our program focuses on long-term family safety.