NY Criminal Justice Agency

Congrats to CJA’s executive director Aubrey Fox for being named to City and State NY 2022 Nonprofit Power 100!

The 2022 Nonprofit Power 100 The public officials, philanthropic leaders and nonprofit executives leading the sector in New York.

High court appearance rates are beneficial for everyone. New research from CJA shows a promising method of reaching that goal. Read more about The Court Appearance Pilot Project in a roundtable with some of the team members.

The data shows that post arraignment meetings and personalized phone calls helped to significantly decrease the rates of people failing to appear in court, sometimes as much as 32%.

Team members reported that compassionate interactions, a hallmark of many CJA programs, go a long way:
“Clients go through a lot and to suddenly be treated like they're a person instead of what the system perceives them to be – that in its own I think is very rewarding”

The Court Appearance Pilot Project (CAPP): A Roundtable Discussion Reducing unnecessary pretrial detention in New York City.

45,789.
That’s the total number of people who, in August 2021, were awaiting disposition of their case according to CJA’s newly launched Pretrial Release Dashboard.

The dashboard is searchable by arrest charge and release type as well as by the number and percentage charged with a new offense while on pretrial release. We did the work with our partners at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, the national pretrial data experts Luminosity and the web design company Hyperakt. As our partner Marie VanNostrand writes, “For the first time, New York City can paint a complete picture of its entire pretrial population.” Follow the Pretrial Release dashboard for data and for expert commentary.

Pretrial Release Dashboard CJA’s Pretrial Release Dashboard allows readers to explore data on the number of people being released pretrial over time in New York City.

Thanks to The Wall Street Journal for this thoughtful and thorough story on how CJA has worked with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and other partners to update its pretrial release assessment system. According to Corinne Ramey, the RA has “been mostly well received, with prelim data showing its recs aligned with the likelihood of defendants showing up for court. Some judges have said they understand the science behind the tool and are therefore likely to trust its recommendations”. So far, the release assessment is meeting its goals of maintaining robust court appearance rates, reducing pretrial detention where possible and minimizing racial differences in recommendation rates.

Algorithm Helps New York Decide Who Goes Free Before Trial New York City spent five years and $2.7 million to develop a new tool to help judges determine who goes to jail and who remains free while awaiting criminal trials.

Statement from CJA

Statement from CJA The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and other instances of police brutality has caused a reckoning across the US – and within CJA.

CJA’s Oureach center helps hundreds of people a day with court related questions, but during a public health crisis they realized that they could provide more personal assistance. “It’s one thing to remind someone of their upcoming court date and another to check-in on a person’s well-being.” Through the Wellness Project, CJA regularly provides over 22,000 people with important resources, and answers their questions and concerns.

This initiative started due to COVID, but it represents a larger trend in our criminal justice work. “I’m hoping that post-pandemic, this project will carry on in some way. Maybe this will strengthen our resolve to look at justice-involved people in a holistic manner.”

CJA Outreach: The Wellness Project during COVID-19 An interview with the Senior Manager of CJA's Outreach Center on their new initiative to provide deeper service during the public health emergency.

A statement from CJA

NY went into effect October 2018. This report includes the first deep analysis of the law's first year, and how it has changed the processing of youth arrests in the state. Here are 5 key takeaways from the report report

One Year of Raise the Age: Five Takeaways Key trends from analysis of the first year of Raise the Age, which raised the age of criminal responsibility and changed how adolescent offenders are processed

In public health emergencies, jails and prisons can be some of the hardest hit places. That’s why the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice with CJA, The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), and Center for Court Innovation, have launched the Early Release Program to reduce health risks while prioritizing public safety. 312 individuals have been released from these high-risk conditions with excellent results so far. 92% are in compliance with case manager contact and early release clients have made about 6,000 check-ins with case managers.By utilizing the Supervised Release Program that’s already helped thousands stay in their communities before trial, CJA and our partners are able to provide a safe release from jail while offering additional assistance to clients.
https://www.nycja.org/rikers-early-release-program

The Rikers Early Release Program—Documented Results April 22, 2020 The Early Release Program is reducing health risks while also prioritizing public safety.

CJA's Queens Supervised Release Program has taken extraordinary steps to continue its service to clients while working from home, ensuring safety while providing support to thousands.

Queens Supervised Release's Continued Service During Stay Home Q and A with a QSR staffer about how the team is rising to the challenge of meeting clients remotely and providing support in an unprecedented crisis.

NYC COURT UPDATE: In order to prioritize the health and safety of New Yorkers, the Office of Court Administration has made adjustments to court operations that will reduce or postpone nonessential functions. Read more here

Announcement of Modified Court Operations As a precautionary measure, NYC courts will be modifying their operations until further notice

“It’s not easy to figure out how to depict data.” Fast Company on CJA’s collaboration with the design firm Hyperakt to bring the work of our agency to life.
On the redesigned CJA site and updated release assessment: “We felt a responsibility for info to be available in an attractive way ... when there’s all these debates about data and criminal justice - it’s good for people to have information to improve the quality of that debate.”

The justice system is a black box. Can this redesign make it more transparent? How four design principles can make a better system.