Special Episodes from the Center for Justice Innovation

This recollection of the Midtown Community Court's beginnings in New York City in 1993 is just one of over 150 oral histories for the city-wide campaign called “Recalling 1993,” accessible exclusively through every surviving pay phone in Manhattan, in conjunction with the New Museum’s exhibition, “NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star,” which features art made or shown in New York during that year.

The 10th graduation of the Harlem Reentry Court featured a special guest.

“I was born in Harlem, and I grew up in Harlem and now at 82, I’m still in Harlem,” said Harry Belafonte, the singer, actor and activist, as he congratulated the Reentry Court’s 17 graduates on satisfying the program’s rigorous requirements.

The Harlem Parole Reentry Court helps parolees returning from incarceration make the transition from life in prison to responsible citizenship. The court—a project of Harlem Community Justice Center, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Division of Parole—links parolees to a wide range of social services, including drug treatment, transitional employment and vocational services, health care and mental health treatment.

Lenore Lebron and Tia Pooler, researchers who oversee Data Analytics and Applied Research at the Center for Justice Innovation, discuss their ongoing efforts to oversee the use of the CCAT in the field. This includes a explaining how they collect data from the CCAT to identify trends and to monitor the continued accuracy of the tool and its responsiveness to the populations assessed by the CCAT. Tia and Lenore present recommendations for jurisdictions collecting and using their own data.

Arielle Freedman, Associate Director for Pretrial Clinical Practice at the Center for Justice Innovation, underscores the importance of using the CCAT interview as a starting point for building a foundation of trust and rapport with participants. She encourages practitioners to be nimble and person-centered in their work with participants. Practitioners should take participants' disclosures and experiences both seriously and supportively, while simultaneously keeping an eye towards self-assessment of the practitioner's own internal biases and projections.

Sarah Thompson, Therapeutic Court Coordinator of Spokane Municipal Court in Washington, discusses the administration of the CCAT by Spokane's 4-member therapeutic team to identify an individual's risk and need levels. Assessed risk and need levels then help determine how staff can most appropriately respond. In addition, Sarah explains how the CCAT interview is also a place to holistically hear from an individual, guiding staff as they identify more acute or more specific needs that staff can then work to directly address.