New Thinking, a Center for Court Innovation Podcast

At Reinvesting in Justice, Marc Levin, policy director of the Texas-based conservative group Right on Crime, talks about the need to work towards criminal justice reform with stakeholders from across the ideological spectrum, both in Texas and nationwide. 

This podcast is part of a series highlighting innovative approaches to reducing violence and improving health outcomes among at-risk minority youth at the nine demonstration sites of the Minority Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. One of these demonstrations sites is Policing Approach Through Health, Wellness and Youth (PATHWAY) in West Palm Beach, Fla., an initiative led by the City of West Palm Beach that seeks to promote healthy adolescent development, discourage harmful and violent behavior, and provide youth with opportunities for positive social involvement. Reed Daniel, campus manager for the Youth Empowerment Division of the City of West Palm Beach Department of Recreation & Strategic Innovations and Special Agent James Lewis and Assistant Chief Sarah Mooney of the West Palm Beach Police Department joined this week's podcast to discuss the role of law enforcement in PATHWAY, which includes offering critical mentorship and role modeling for program participants and creating meaningful diversion opportunities for low-level youth offenders.  

In this New Thinking podcast, Dr. Oliver Williams brings questions of race, faith, and incarceration into a conversation on domestic violence. Drawing on his work with both victims and perpetrators from African-American, Latina, and other immigrant and diasporic communities, Dr. Williams examines the import of cultural responsivity in the justice system’s response to domestic violence.   This product was supported by Grant No. 2013-TA-AX-K042 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, or recommendations expressed in this podcast are those of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.

This podcast covers the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, with highlights including speeches from New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson, and honoree Stuart Gold, of Cravath, Swain, and Moore. 

This podcast is part of a series highlighting innovative approaches to reducing violence and improving health outcomes among at-risk minority youth at the nine demonstration sites of the Minority Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. One of these demonstrations sites is the Youth ALIVE! anti-violence program in Oakland, Calif. Rafael Vasquez of Youth ALIVE!'s hospital-based violence intervention program, Caught in the Crossfire, joins the Center in this podcast to discuss Caught in the Crossfire and Youth ALIVE!'s novel approach to treating trauma.

Lama Hassoun Ayoub, researcher and co-author of Coming Home to Harlem, discusses the impact of the Harlem Parole Reentry Court on the lives of parolees returning to Harlem after incarceration. 

John Chisholm, district attorney of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, joins the New Thinking podcast to discuss community prosecution, diversion, and his work to reduce mass incarceration and racial inequities in the justice system.

In this podcast, Anne Marks, executive director of the Youth ALIVE! hospital-based anti-violence program in Oakland, discusses the history and mission of Youth ALIVE!, its partnerships with local public health and law enforcement agencies, and how funding under the Minority Youth Violence Prevention Initiative is increasing the organization's capacity to serve high-risk minority youth.

In this podcast, Kari Kerr and Kristi Hall-Jiran talk about Safer Tomorrows, Grand Forks, North Dakota's Defending Childhood Initiative. Safer Tomorrows implemented universal violence prevention programming in public, private, and rural schools across Grand Forks County, beginning with pre-kindergarten and extending to high school. The initative is part of the Department of Justice's Defending Childhood Demonstration Program, which funded eight sites across the country to  respond to the problem of children's exposure to violence. The Center for Court Innovation has produced a report on Safer Tomorrows, a series of reports on five other sites, and a report that condenses lessons learned across the sites.

Jill Smialek and Dr. Jeff Kretschmar discuss the Cuyahoga County Defending Childhood Initative, which  seeks to address violence against children in one of the country's most violent areas - Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Their unique approach includes the creation of an integrated, county-wide screening, assessment, and service system for children ages 0-18 who have experienced violence and trauma. The initative is part of the Department of Justice's Defending Childhood Demonstration Program, which funded eight sites across the country to  respond to the problem of children's exposure to violence. The Center for Court Innovation has produced a report on the Cuyahoga County Defending Childhood Initative, a series of reports on five other sites, and a report that condenses lessons learned across the sites. 

In this podcast, Center for Court Innovation researchers Rachel Swaner, Lama Ayoub, and Elise Jensen discuss their National Institute of Justice funded report on the United States Department of Justice's Defending Childhood Demonstration Program. The program, which began in 2010, funded eight pilot sites across the country to address children's exposure to violence. The Center produced a series of reports on six of the eight sites, as well as a report that condenses lessons learned across the sites. 

Katheryn Lotsos and Stephen Forrester from the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children discuss their organization’s approach to supervised visitation. Supervised visitation is frequently required by courts in child welfare or domestic violence cases and allows children to meet with non-custodial parents in a secure and controlled environment. The Society's therapeutic model includes safety planning, parent education classes, special training for the professionals supervising the visits, and close collaboration with the courts.

Center for Court Innovation researcher Sarah Picard-Fritsche discusses the risk-need-responsivity model for working with offenders and the Center's efforts to develop a screening tool for misdemeanor offenders.

Dr. Susan Chinitz, a psychologist with specialties in the areas of infant mental health and developmental disabilities in infancy and early childhood, and a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the new Strong Starts Court Initiative, which will enhance the capacity of Family Court to bring positive changes to court-involved babies and their families. (April 2015)

New York University Law School Professor James Jacobs, author of "The Eternal Criminal Record" (Harvard University Press), discusses the proliferation of electronic criminal records and the challenges they pose for a free society. (March 2015)