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Publications & Digital Media

Format
  • Audio

    Gideon at 60: The Unfunded Mandate

    by Matt Watkins

    "On every anniversary of Gideon, liberals bemoan the state of indigent defense." On this 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision granting a lawyer to every poor defendant facing prison time, there is much to bemoan. Yet as the harms of the criminal legal system come into sharper relief, there is a larger question: even if Gideon's promise was fulfilled, how much would that change who principally suffers under the current system: the poor and people of color?

    Access to Justice, Addressing Racial Disparities, Bail Reform
  • Audio

    When Young People Go to Prison for Life

    by Matt Watkins

    April Barber Scales was a pregnant 15-year-old when she received two life sentences; Anthony Willis was 16 when he was sent away for life. After more than 25 years behind bars, they each received something desperately rare: clemency. They describe how they fought against a prison system that "sets you up for failure." We also hear from an organization in Baltimore that works exclusively with young people at high risk of violence. Rather than arrests and incarceration, what do these young people need?

    Addressing Racial Disparities, Diversion, Reducing Trauma, Reducing Violence, Reentry, Youth Initiatives
  • Publication

    When Incarceration Is Automatic: Mandatory Minimums and Race

    by Fred Butcher, Amanda Cissner, and Michael Rempel

    Mandatory minimum sentencing laws took shape amid the “tough-on-crime” push of the late 1970s, making a signal contribution at the origins of our mass incarceration era. How would eliminating these laws—in whole or in part—affect the stark racial disparities in who is in prison in New York?

    Addressing Racial Disparities, Bail Reform, Diversion
  • Audio

    Emphasizing the Harms

    by Matt Watkins

    A recent two-day training for Manhattan prosecutors was a drumbeat on the harms of incarceration, part of a wider effort by D.A. Alvin Bragg to expand the use of alternatives such as treatment and restorative justice. But in a newly cramped climate for criminal justice reform, can that effort become a reality? New Thinking investigates.

    Addressing Racial Disparities, Bail Reform, Diversion, Reducing Trauma, Restorative Justice, Treatment Courts
  • Audio

    Evicting Evictions

    by Matt Watkins

    Housing is a human right. What if we designed our systems—beginning with Housing Court—to embody that? Given the current eviction crisis, it's a far-off concept, but there's work to make it a reality in pockets across the country. In this special episode of New Thinking, hear a profile of one of those efforts in Brooklyn, led by our Red Hook Community Justice Center.

    Access to Justice, Addressing Racial Disparities
  • Video

    The Tulsa County Domestic Violence Court - Videos

    The Tulsa County Domestic Violence Court in Oklahoma is a criminal court model that handles misdemeanor and felony domestic violence cases and coordinates with family court in an urban setting. Learn from the court and stakeholder team about this specialized domestic violence court and how it tackles offender accountability, working collaboratively, and victim safety.

    Aiding Survivors, Addressing Racial Disparities, Gender and Family Justice, Strengthening Families
  • Publication

    ​Population Review Teams: Evaluating Jail Reduction and Racial Disparities Across Three Jurisdictions

    by Joanna Weill, Amanda Cissner, and Sruthi Naraharisetti

    Currently implemented in more than a dozen cities around the country, jail Population Review Teams (PRTs) are one strategy to reduce jail populations. Funded by the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) and with guidance from ISLG, the Center for Court Innovation conducted a quantitative research study of the PRT model and its impacts in three sites through the spring of 2020: Lucas County, Ohio; Pima County, Arizona; and St. Louis County, Missouri.

    Addressing Racial Disparities, Procedural Justice
  • Audio

    Why Data Doesn't Stick

    by Matt Watkins

    Efforts to reform the justice system—including our own—often tout they're "evidence-based" or "data-driven." But at a moment when a pandemic-era spike in crime seems to have put the reform movement on its heels, New Thinking asks: why do arguments based on data rarely seem to win the day? Christina Greer and John Pfaff—two scholars working at the intersection of data and politics—explain.

    Addressing Racial Disparities, Bail Reform, Evidence-Based Practices, Reducing Trauma
  • Publication

    Restorative Justice in NYC Schools: An Evaluation

    by Lama Hassoun Ayoub, Lina Villegas, Elise Jensen, and Andrew Martinez

    Many schools have adopted a form of restorative justice, but there are few rigorous evaluations of its effects. Our study of an ambitious project in a handful of New York City schools returned a mixed result: widespread perceptions of an improved school climate, but little movement in our primary metric—the use of suspensions. Should future researchers prioritize outcomes more aligned with restorative justice's overall goals?

    Addressing Racial Disparities, Restorative Justice, Youth Initiatives
  • Publication

    The Will to Decarcerate: COVID-19 and NYC's Early Release Program

    by Andrew Martinez, Joanna Weill, Lina Villegas, Camille Wada, Michael Rempel, and Tia Pooler

    Jail populations can be reduced swiftly and humanely—where the political will exists. That is the primary lesson to emerge from our study of New York City’s Early Release Program. Quickly constructed as the pandemic first hit Rikers Island in March 2020, the program helped drive the city's jail population to its lowest level in 75 years. With the curtailment of those efforts, the population has since increased by 60 percent.

    Addressing Racial Disparities, Diversion, Reducing Trauma

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