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Washington D.C. Works to Fill a Gap in Treatment for Justice-Involved Individuals

Rikha Sharma Rani

May 14, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Washington, D.C. is piloting an approach called Thinking for a Change to help break the cycle of recidivism. The approach itself has been around since 1997, and it brings together individuals involved in the justice system for facilitated small-group sessions on conflict resolution, social skills, and problem-solving. While still in the early phases in D.C, the approach has had demonstrable effects in other places, and early adopters in D.C. are pushing for more.

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UnCommon Law Helps Inmates Serving Life Sentences Earn Back Their Freedom

Jennie Butler

April 26, 2020 |

NowThis News |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, California

The California law firm UnCommon Law is helping people in prison make parole through group counseling and training. The firm facilitates conversations around insight, helping participants understand and explain their own personal journey and reckon with the impact of their actions, so that they can convey this to their parole board. Since 2006, UnCommon law has helped 248 men and women receive parole, a 60% success rate.

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Nowhere to Go: Out of jail, recovery housing hard to find

Hadley Barndollar

March 15, 2020 |

Seacoast Online |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

New Hampshire's Rockinham County gives some people with extensive drug and criminal histories an offramp from the criminal legal system, in the form of housing at Cross Roads House and a drug court to emphasize treatment over punishment. But, while other cities in the state meet such needs with multiple programs, the second-most populous county in the state has a severe shortage of supportive housing and services. Such services can make the difference between prison and success, and even between life and death in a place with high rates of overdose deaths.

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Baltimore crime crisis: How about trying something that worked before?

Dan Rodricks

January 01, 2020 |

The Baltimore Sun |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

When Baltimore put the necessary resources behind a “call-in” program that intervenes with people likely to commit gun violence, from 2006 to 2012, homicides dropped by 30% and shootings by 40%. The program, which no longer is used in the city consistently enough or with sufficient resources, summons people on probation or parole for gun crimes. A panel of law enforcement, social workers, and community members pairs the threat of federal prosecution and imprisonment with social services to help people build a new life. This approach has been shown in many cities to be effective at reducing violence.

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An Airbnb for the Formerly Incarcerated

Lauren Markham

December 16, 2019 |

The Atlantic |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

The Homecoming Project in Oakland provides people recently released from prison with a soft landing by giving them free housing for six months, along with a menu of support services, in private homes willing to take in the formerly incarcerated. The recently released are at high risk of both homelessness and recidivism, two factors the program addressed successfully in its first group of tenants. With fundraising challenges, the program remains small. But it is developing a tool kit to help others replicate its model.

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Reporting for Work Where You Once Reported for Probation

Ted Alcorn

December 13, 2019 |

The Atlantic |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Since 2012, the New York City Department of Probation’s Arches program has integrated “credible messengers” into its mission, diverting some energies toward helping instead of punishing. The term refers to people, often formerly incarcerated or on probation themselves, who apply their street knowledge to mentoring youth caught up in the criminal justice system. The movement has spread to a variety of government agencies, but usually is used in street-outreach crime prevention work by community organizations. A large body of research shows the effectiveness of the approach in lowered crime and recidivism.

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The judge, jury and lawyers are kids. But punishments at N.J. youth court are real.

Barry Carter

November 18, 2019 |

NJ Advance Media |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Newark, New Jersey

The 10-year-old Newark Youth Court has heard some 700 cases in which high school students serve as judge, jury, and lawyers in proceedings that avoid school discipline or criminal charges with creative exercises in personal accountability. Taking aim at fights, disruptive behavior, or more serious offenses involving weapons or drugs. the Youth Court seeks to encourage better life choices. Outcomes may exclude punishment altogether, imposing community service (including Youth Court jury duty) or other alternatives to jail, avoiding criminal records that can ruin someone's future.

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Fresh Data Shows How Focused Deterrence Can Keep At-Risk Individuals from Crime

Champe Barton

November 06, 2019 |

The Trace |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

In 2013, Detroit’s law enforcement agencies started using focused deterrence – a method that uses data to identify at-risk individuals – to decrease the rate of violent crime in the city. The method, part of the national program, Ceasefire, partners police departments with social workers and other city services to deter people from criminal behavior. A new study in the journal, Crime and Delinquency, has been published that links the strategy to decreased crime rates and recidivism.

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NYC: Where the Police Offer a Free Art Class Instead of Prosecution

Rebecca Bellan

October 22, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Since 2015, Project Reset has diverted potential criminal cases to programs that change behaviors without imposing punishment or staining people's records with criminal convictions. Art classes, behavioral therapy, and restorative dialogue have made 16- and 17-year-olds in the program significantly less likely to commit new offenses, while 98% of those admitted to the program have completed it. Offered in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bronx, the program helped the Manhattan district attorney nearly cut in half the number of prosecutions of low-level misdemeanors and violations.

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'FACT' teams aim to keep people with mental illness out of jail

Alisa Roth

September 18, 2019 |

MPR News |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

A Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) team tackles one of the toughest challenges at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice: how to help people whose mental illness has landed them in criminal trouble, without resorting to jail or brief hospitalizations. A Rochester, New York, program that showed promise in improving those odds by connecting people with needed services is now being replicated in Hennepin County, Minnesota. So far, about half of the 60 people in the program returned to jail. So it's only working for some people.

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