Procedural Fairness and Community Courts

We are blogging from the 2nd Annual International Community Courts Conference in Washington D.C.

Tom Tyler is discussing Procedural Justice theory and its relevance to the Community Courts movement. According to Tyler, the key question we must ask is: What do people want when they engage the courts?
The answer, based on his work, is Procedural Justice.

Procedural Justice is a theory of justice that posits perceptions of fair treatment is strongly associated with acceptance of outcomes compared to positive or negative decisions rendered by authority figures (courts, police, supervisors). While people are not happy when they don't "win" in court, they are more likely to accept the outcomes if they were treated fairly. The effects of Procedural Justice are "robust" even in circumstances where the monetary stakes are high, the matter is emotionally charged (i.e child custody), or when important ethical or moral values are at stake. The positive effects of Procedural Justice cut across racial and class lines. The effects are also durable with some research showing lower rates of re-offending years after a decision. 

Regarding reentry, Tracey Meares work has shown that a single two hour meeting with offenders that is procedurally fair reduces recidivism rates compared to other interventions -- provision of social services, traditional community supervision.

Tyler suggest that a "systems level model" of Procedural Justice is needed  This approach would incorporate the following elements:

• Voice: Help people to to have a chance to state their case in decision making;
• Neneutrality: Decisions based on facts and rules and helping people to understand that this is happening (transparancy);
• Respect: Take concerns seriously and acknowledge rights, using courtesy and politness;
• Trust: A belief that an authority is "sincere and caring" and acting in the interest of parties, not their own intrests.

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Community Courts Video

The Center for Court Innovation produced a video describing Community Courts.It was shown at the 2nd Annual International Community Courts Conference today in Washington D.C. Check it out here.

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2nd Annual International Community Courts Conference Opens in D.C.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray opened the International Community Courts Conference. The Conference has drawn over 300 persons from around the world to hear about innovations in justice.

The Community Courts model was developed by the Center for Court Innovation in the early 1990s to address low-level offending. Community Courts use a problem-solving and data driven approach to help court systems to develop local partnerships that reduce crime and strengthen communities.The first Community Court, the Midtown Community Court, has reduced crime in Midtown Manhattan. Now there are over three dozen Community Courts around the world that are showing results.

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Community Court Project Opens in Newark NJ

Yesterday, Newark Mayor Corey Booker helped to launch Newark Community Solutions at a standing room only event in the City Council Chamber at Newark City Hall. Newark, a city working hard to overcome crime and violence, joins a growing list of cities across the globe that are using community courts as part of a larger problem-solving justice approach to improve public safety and community development. Located in Part 2 of the Newark Municipal Court (a.k.a "the Deuce") and  presided over by the Hon. Victoria Pratt, Newark Community Solutions is the first community court developed in the State of New Jersey.

Newark Community Solutions was created through a broad partnership organized by the Center for Court Innovation, the parent organization for the Harlem Community Justice Center and this blog.

To read the Star-Ledger coverage of the event click here

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Center for Court Innovation Video

For fourteen years I have had the privilege of working for an amazing organization, the Center for Court Innovation. While the Center itself is not widely known, many of the projects we have developed or encouraged are, including the Harlem Community Justice Center and Upper Manhattan Reentry Task Force. From a small demonstration project in the early 1990's, the Midtown Community Court, the Center's work has spawned hundreds of results driven justice innovations nationally, and increasingly internationally. Every day these projects are connecting addicts to treatment, assisting victims, smoothing the path home for persons leaving prison, and diverting youth from incarceration.

The ideas and practices developed through the Center's work have changed the way our justice system operates for the better. I am proud of the accomplishments represented in the video. It is a testament to the staff and volunteers of the Center and the leadership of our many community and agency partners.

Center For Court Innovation Video



Christopher Watler
Project Director
Harlem Community Justice Center

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Implementing Evidence-Based Practices

This week we are blogging from the first International Community Courts Conference in Dallas, Texas. The Conference brings together over 150 justice leaders from around the world. The Conference is sponsored by the Center for Court Innovation and the U.S Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, with assistance from the Dallas City Attorney’s Office.

Begun in New York in the early 1990’s, community courts are neighborhood focused court projects that improve public safety by promoting offender accountability through the use of alternative sanctions and improved connections to social services.




There has been a lot of discussion at the Conference about evidence-based interventions. As justice reformers and communities work to address crime locally there is a wealth of research now available to assist in determining the most cost-effective successful approaches.

Today, Elaine Borakove, President of the Justice Management Institute, presented on evidence-based practices in criminal justice. She defined evidence-based interventions as: " a practice or intervention that has been subjected to rigorous scientific research." According to Ms. Borakove it is important to understand the quality of the research that is used to justify a program as evidence-based. The National Institute of Corrections Research Support Gradient highlights the varying degrees of evidence available as well as the eight principles for reducing recidivism. To learn more visit the NIC Implementing Evidence-Based Practices in Community Corrections page.

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Justice is About Fairness, Tolerance and Care"

I love the title quote from Kerry Walker, Director of the Neighborhood Justice Center in Yarra, a neighborhood in Melbourne Australia. Begun in 2007, the Yarra Center is one example of how the community court model, started here in New York City, has been adopted around the world. It was one of three community courts highlighted on a panel at the International Conference of Community Courts.

Yarra is a highly diverse community with many of the same urban issues we face in upper Manhattan. Ms. Walker described one public housing facility where over 60 languages are spoken. I had a chance to talk with her about her work afterwards. I was impressed by the Justice Centre's use of restorative justice approaches. In one example, she described working with a local high crime housing facility were they are teaching the staff and residents mediation skills as part of a larger approach to reform the governance structure of the facility initiated by the residents. While the Yarra project is still fairly new, they have already seen drops in crime and some increased evidence of public trust in the justice system.

With the higher incidents of crime and delinquency in some upper Manhattan public housing developments, perhaps there is some inspiration we could draw from the approach in Yarra!


Click here to read an evaluation of the Yarra project.

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"A Long Strange Trip"

This week we are blogging from the first International Community Courts Conference in Dallas, Texas. The Conference brings together over 150 justice leaders from around the world. The Conference is sponsored by the Center for Court Innovation and the U.S Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, with assistance from the Dallas City Attorney’s Office.

 Begun in New York in the early 1990’s, community courts are neighborhood focused court projects that improve public safety by promoting offender accountability through the use of alternative sanctions and improved connections to social services.



The first International Community Court Conference opened today in Dallas, Texas, drawing justice system leaders from around the world. Greg Berman, Director of the Center for Court Innovation, described the “long strange trip” of the development of community courts as “swimming upstream.” “Crime like the weather was not something you could do something about,” according to Berman who helped spearhead the development of the nation’s first community court in Midtown Manhattan. Berman’s critique of crime policy highlighted two challenges  confronting justice reformers in the early 1990’s; first, the belief that the best response to crime was to arrest and lock up offenders, and, second, a belief that “nothing works” in rehabilitation of offenders which was derived from seminal research by Robert Marthinson and his colleagues in the mid 1970s. Today we are reaching a consensus on evidence-based practices that do work, indicated Berman. He highlighted the experience of New York City and State that has managed to significantly reduce incarceration and index crime rates. Berman outlined three contributions community courts have made to the justice reform movement: 1) Low-level offending matters and should be taken seriously, 2) Reducing crime and incarceration are not mutually exclusive goals, and 3) Local communities are “co-producers” of public safety and should be effectively engaged by the justice system.

The Conference also heard from U.S Attorney General Eric Holder via video, and Mary Lou Leary, Deputy Assistant Attorney General.

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Center for Court Innovation wins the 2009 Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation

Good news for our parent organization, the Center for Court Innovation: we've just found out that the Center is the recipient of this year's Drucker Award, a prestigious $100,000 prize for important contributions to nonprofit performance.

"What the Center is doing is a great example of the way Peter Drucker defined innovation: change that creates a new dimension of performance," said Rick Wartzman, executive director of the Drucker Institute. "Through its work, the Center has literally changed the way that the major players in the system -- judeges, attorneys, criminal justice officials -- think about their jobs and the impact they're having. Through its community-court model, the Cetner has been able to take low-level offenders and give them a chance to repair the harm they've done and be reintegrated into the fabric of their neighborhoods. Victims, meanwhile, are given a greater voice in the process and have enjoyed enhanced safety."

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New Jersey Parole Chair Visits Harlem Reentry Court

Chairman Yolette C. Ross of the New Jersey State Parole Board visited the Harlem Community Justice Center's Parole Reentry Court this week. Chairman Ross, pictured here with Justice Center Director Chris Watler, is seeking to improve outcomes for parolees in her New Jersey. Begun in 2001, the Reentry Court, a collaboration between the Justice Center and the State Division of Parole, manages parolees during their first six months of parole. Reentry Court participation has led to lower rates of recidivism and technical violations for graduates of the six-month program. Through a collaborative case management approach the Reentry Court increases accountability while providing wrap-around services to parolees. An evaluation of the Reentry Court is currently underway with results expected in the fall of 2009.

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