Three years in, co-parenting court claims success

The city's health department wants to send ex-offenders who are trained to be "violence interrupters" to hospitals to talk with victims. Chicago has found such a program prevents repeat injuries.

In order to disrupt cycles of violence, Milwaukee’s Homicide Review Commission has recommended that Milwaukee police examine how their peers in Rochester, N.Y., organize police work around the concept of preventing disputes from escalating into violence.

Girls Court brings an all-hands-on-deck approach to the lives of vulnerable girls, linking them to social service agencies, providing informal Saturday sessions on everything from body image to legal jargon, and offering a team of adults in whom they can develop trust.

In El Paso domestic violence cases are processed more effectively by having social workers, prosecutors, and law enforcement work together to get immediate support to the victims and hold the aggressor accountable.

When processing rape kits, it may be faster and more cost-effective to extract DNA profiles rather than first screen swabs and undergarments for semen. Ohio’s crime lab, which has identified a potential suspect in nearly 40 percent of recent cases, has made this and other changes to its procedures.

The approach of some state detention directors to juvenile justice has evolved at Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center. Research shows that traditional detention is simply not working as a deterrent to youth crime—and can actually increase it. Administrators, county and special-interest groups have chipped away at antiquated practices to make room for rehabilitation and therapy. These efforts attempt to address the core issues that culminate in youth crime, delinquency and recidivism.

In Pascagoula, a youth court judge observed a high number of youth stuck in the system. The judge reached out to local schools, discouraging them from involving law enforcement in minor incidents that put juveniles into a vicious cycle of detention and jail. Instead, the judge encouraged educators to get more involved in constructive mediation and intervention.

Boston-based Veterans Legal Services (VLS) is the only organization of its kind in the state. The nonprofit helps veterans access benefits and navigate civil court proceedings. Its clients are specifically low-income and homeless veterans, all of whom struggle financially.

Montana saw the rise of child abuse and neglect cases due to parental substance abuse, particularly with those using methamphetamine. Family drug courts are reversing this trend due to a more holistic approach striving for permanency through rewards and sanctions program, frequent testing, and treatment.

More women are being incarcerated around the United States and that has spurred more institutions to create prison nurseries, which allow women to be with their newborns. It's not a new idea, but it's finding support among prison advocates as well as budget hawks because research shows nurseries can lower recidivism rates among mothers. The idea of children in prison remains controversial however.