30 Years of the Center for Justice Innovation

What If There Was a Different Way? Planting the Seeds of Justice in Midtown Manhattan

In the early 1990s, drug sales, car break-ins, and illegal sex work were a part of daily life in and around Times Square. The same small group of people rotated in and out of court every day, an endless cycle of despair both for them and the broader Midtown community.

Leaders in the New York State court system knew there must be a better way. In partnership with the Fund for the City of New York, the New York City government, and Times Square Alliance—and fueled by the insights of countless community residents, small business owners, government agencies, and non-profit groups—they began to imagine a new kind of court, one that addresses the root causes of crime and not just its effects. Key leaders in that effort included Judge Jonathan Lippman, Judge Judith S. Kaye, Robert G.M. Keating, Herb Sturz, Greg Berman, and Midtown’s founding director John Feinblatt.

The people who came to the Midtown court “did not have complicated legal cases, but they did have complicated lives.
— John Feinblatt

On the Cutting Edge

The Midtown Community Court isn’t only reimagining how courts can better support community safety, but also how the court itself does its work. Midtown’s cutting-edge, in-court computer technology takes the top prize for public sector innovation at Microsoft’s Windows World Open 1995. The technology will later be featured in the Innovation Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Piloting Innovation in New York

As the independent research and development arm for the courts, the Center pilots and evaluates innovative programming in the court system through specialized problem-solving courts, off-ramps from the system, supportive services for people, and new ways to achieve public safety. Within a year, the Center receives an Innovations in American Government Award from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Ford Foundation and the Council for Excellence in Government.

Specialized Courts Gain Traction

• To provide treatment-based alternatives to incarceration for people with mental illness, the Center opens the Brooklyn Mental Health Court.
• The Center is named one of the top 15 innovations in the history of the Innovations in American Government Award for field-testing new, more efficient and responsive ways of organizing courts.

Problem Solving for a New Generation

The Center pilots a ground-breaking law school curriculum on problem-solving justice at Fordham Law School, seeding change for future generations of lawyers.

New Court Models Spread Across the Country

Problem-solving courts begin to open across New York and the country as the Center shares lessons learned and helps other jurisdictions launch their own solutions.

The National Association of Drug Court Professionals honors the Center for Court Innovation, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, and the New York State Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals with its National Leadership Award in recognition of New York’s efforts to “go to scale” with drug courts.

In partnership with the New York State Unified Court System, the Center develops the Manhattan Integrated Domestic Violence Court and the state’s first domestic violence family court in Queens. With the Center’s expert assistance, the community court model spreads in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Newark, and internationally in jurisdictions like Scotland, South Africa, Australia, Ireland, China, Canada, and the Republic of Georgia.

Incorporating Restorative Practices

Inspired by indigenous practices, the Red Hook Community Justice Center launches its Peacemaking program bringing together community volunteers, family members, and the person who caused harm to discuss what happened and find a path forward.

Pilot, Scale, Less Jail

New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman asks the Center to test the feasibility of a supervised release program, which would offer community-based supervision instead of bail and incarceration for people awaiting trial. The Center creates Brooklyn Justice Initiatives to serve people facing the possibility of bail they cannot afford. Today, the supervised release program operates in all five boroughs, significantly reducing pre-trial detention.

Families Need Strong Starts

To better support children and families involved in abuse and neglect cases in the New York City Family Court, the Center launches the Strong Starts Court Initiative, a science-informed approach to early psychology and child development. Today, Strong Starts operates across New York City as well as in Westchester and Erie County.

Running Point to Close Jails on Rikers Island

The Center begins supporting the work of the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform (also known as the Lippman Commission), charged with studying the jail system with an eye toward facilitating the closure of Rikers Island. The Center coordinates a multi-agency team, overseeing research, planning, and community engagement.

Something Something

• The Center helps New York City release nearly 300 people at risk of contracting COVID-19 from jail, allowing them to finish their sentences through supervision and services in the community.
• To better understand why young New Yorkers carry guns, the Center relies on field researchers with street experience to interview more than 300 young people for a groundbreaking study, “Gotta Make Your Own Heaven”: Guns, Safety and the Edge of Adulthood in New York City.
• The Center created “From Defendant to Survivor: How Courts are Responding to Human Trafficking,” a short film that was awarded Best Documentary in the Orlando Human Trafficking Awareness Film Festival. Watch the full film.

Sharing Survivor-Centered Resources

The Center launches DV RISC (Domestic Violence Resource for Increasing Safety and Connection), a survivor-centered initiative that provides resources and support for those working to reduce and prevent homicide in intimate partner cases.

Pushing the Field Forward

• The AI and Justice Consortium launches, co-founded by the Center bringing justice practitioners, tech leaders, and communities together to leverage opportunities and mitigate risks of artificial intelligence in the justice system.
• Community Justice Solutions—comprising an experienced team of problem-solvers—launches as a new national venture to help communities across the country advance safety and justice.