New Thinking, a Center for Court Innovation Podcast

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The Center for Court Innovation is a non-profit think tank based in New York that helps the justice system aid victims, reduce crime, and improve public trust in justice. Every day, the Center works with people who are making a difference on the ground--police chiefs testing new approaches to local…

Center for Court Innovation


    • Nov 4, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 34m AVG DURATION
    • 216 EPISODES

    4.8 from 49 ratings Listeners of New Thinking, a Center for Court Innovation Podcast that love the show mention: center, justice, recommend, great.



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    Latest episodes from New Thinking, a Center for Court Innovation Podcast

    Emphasizing the Harms

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2022 27:12


    A recent two-day training for Manhattan prosecutors was a drumbeat on the harms of incarceration; hardly the typical message prosecutors receive. The training was part of a wider effort by D.A. Alvin Bragg to expand the use of alternatives such as treatment and restorative justice. But in a newly-cramped climate for criminal justice reform, can … Continue reading Emphasizing the Harms →

    Evicting Evictions

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2022 20:01


    Housing is a human right. What if we designed our systems—beginning with Housing Court—to embody that? Given the current eviction crisis, it's a far-off concept, but there's work to make it a reality in pockets across the country. In this special episode, hear a profile of one of those efforts in a Brooklyn neighborhood. Full … Continue reading Evicting Evictions →

    Reform and Its Discontents

    Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2022 34:23


    Nominated for a Media for a Just Society award, revisit New Thinking's conversation with activists Victoria Law and Maya Schenwar. In their book, Prison By Any Other Name, Law and Schenwar contend that much of what is packaged today as “reforms” to the criminal legal system are extending, not countering, that system's harmful effects. So … Continue reading Reform and Its Discontents →

    Why Data Doesn’t Stick

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2022 37:31


    Efforts to reform the justice system often tout they're “evidence-based” or “data-driven.” But at a moment when a national increase in crime, likely triggered by the pandemic, seems to have put the reform movement on its heels, why do arguments based on data rarely seem to win the day? Guests Christina Greer and John Pfaff … Continue reading Why Data Doesn't Stick →

    Can We Close Rikers?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 34:51


    New York City has committed to closing its notorious Rikers Island jail facility by 2027. That could dramatically reorient the city's approach to incarceration. The plan envisions a citywide jail population of just over 3,000 people. But the population at Rikers has been growing for months, and Rikers itself is engulfed in crisis amidst a … Continue reading Can We Close Rikers? →

    The Question of Dirty Work

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2021 39:32


    Eyal Press contends there are entire areas of life we've delegated to “dirty workers”—functions we've declared necessary, but that we work to keep hidden. In his new book, Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America, Press points to the transformation of jails and prisons into the country's largest mental health … Continue reading The Question of Dirty Work →

    Taking Reform Out of Its Comfort Zone

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2021 34:13


    Justice reforms often exclude people with charges involving violence, even though these are the same people most likely to be incarcerated and to be in the most need of the programs and treatment reform can bring. But a felony court in Manhattan is offering alternatives to incarceration, regardless of charge. Can a treatment-first approach be brought … Continue reading Taking Reform Out of Its Comfort Zone →

    The Crisis on Rikers Island

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2021


    An audio snapshot from an emergency rally demanding immediate measures to release people from New York City's Rikers Island jail. Eleven people have died in the custody of the city's jail system this year as Rikers' chief medical officer warns of “a collapse in basic jail operations.”

    Cages Don’t Help Us Heal

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2021 30:52


    Hurt people hurt people. That's not an excuse for harm, but it fuels much of the criminal legal system. At 19, Marlon Peterson was the unarmed lookout on a robbery where two people were killed. Peterson spent a decade behind bars. He writes about those years, and the childhood in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, that preceded … Continue reading Cages Don't Help Us Heal →

    One of These Days We Might Find Us Some Free: Reginald Dwayne Betts

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2021 42:59


    In 1996, 16-year-old Reginald Dwayne Betts was sentenced to nine years in prison for a carjacking. He spent much of that time reading, and eventually writing. After prison, he went to Yale Law School and published a memoir and three books of poems. But he's still wrestling with what “after prison” means. This is a … Continue reading One of These Days We Might Find Us Some Free: Reginald Dwayne Betts →

    The Cycle: Police Violence, Black Rebellion

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2021 37:36


    In her new book, historian Elizabeth Hinton highlights a “crucible period” of often violent rebellions in the name of the Black freedom struggle beginning in 1968. Initiated in almost every instance by police violence, the rebellions—dismissed as “riots”—have been largely written out of the history of the civil rights era. Hinton contends the period is … Continue reading The Cycle: Police Violence, Black Rebellion →

    Policing, Race, and a Crisis in Mental Health

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2021 38:04


    People experiencing a mental health emergency make up one of every four people killed by police. Changing how we respond to crisis in the moment, and to widespread, ongoing mental health needs, means deferring to the leadership of people with lived experience and putting racial equity at the center of every reform. On today’s episode, … Continue reading Policing, Race, and a Crisis in Mental Health →

    Does the Criminal Justice System Cause Crime?

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2021 36:14


    What’s the most effective way to reduce the chance of an arrest in the future? A new study suggests it’s shrinking the size of the justice system in the here and now. Boston D.A. Rachael Rollins and the director of NYU’s Public Safety Lab, Anna Harvey, talk about the benefits of not prosecuting low-level charges—an … Continue reading Does the Criminal Justice System Cause Crime? →

    How Will the Death Penalty End?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2021 36:46


    Journalist Maurice Chammah says the unprecedented federal execution spree during the final weeks of the Trump presidency is evidence of the death penalty’s continued decline, not of its resurgence. Chammah is the author of the new book, Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty. Chammah tracks the long arc … Continue reading How Will the Death Penalty End? →

    COVID-19 Behind Bars: A Pandemic of Neglect

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2021 38:42


    Homer Venters has been inspecting prisons, jails, and ICE detention centers for COVID-compliance almost since the start of the pandemic—with PPE, and sometimes a court order, in hand. The former chief medical officer for New York City jails says what were already substandard health systems and abusive environments have deteriorated sharply, where even people who’ve … Continue reading COVID-19 Behind Bars: A Pandemic of Neglect →

    Heal and Punish? Treatment and Trauma Inside a Coercive System

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2021 33:27


    How effective is therapy or treatment when it’s used instead of incarceration, and what are the challenges to conducting it inside the coercive context of the criminal justice system? New Thinking host Matt Watkins is joined by clinical psychologist Jacob Ham who works with justice-involved young people affected by trauma, and John Jay College’s Deborah … Continue reading Heal and Punish? Treatment and Trauma Inside a Coercive System →

    Josie Duffy Rice: Fighting a Big Fight

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2020 41:17


    Josie Duffy Rice says remaking the justice system is a generational struggle, but it’s one progressives are winning. The well-known criminal justice commentator and activist, president of the news site The Appeal and host of its podcast, Justice in America, explains why she believes in the power of big ideas and offers her take on the … Continue reading Josie Duffy Rice: Fighting a Big Fight →

    Guns, Young People, Hidden Populations

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2020 48:54


    Why do some young people carry guns? It’s a difficult question to answer. People in heavily-policed neighborhoods with high rates of violence aren’t generally enthusiastic about answering questions about gun use. In this special episode, hear from three of the authors of a groundbreaking year-long study into young people and guns. The findings are disturbing, … Continue reading Guns, Young People, Hidden Populations →

    Reform and Its Discontents

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2020 34:23


    The movement to reform prisons is about as old as prisons themselves. But what is the ultimate goal of reform of a system like the criminal justice system? Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law contend that many of today’s most popular reforms—such as electronic monitoring and locked-down treatment centers—are extending, rather than countering, the justice system’s … Continue reading Reform and Its Discontents →

    What We All Get Wrong About Gun Violence

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2020 30:10


    While crime of nearly every kind has been declining amid COVID-19, in cities across the country, gun violence and homicides have been the exceptions. Long-time researcher and former Obama DOJ official, Thomas Abt, says there are proven solutions to reduce the violence. But he says both the right and the left fail to grasp the … Continue reading What We All Get Wrong About Gun Violence →

    Misdemeanors, Race, and a History of Injustice

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2020 37:49


    The alleged use of a $20 counterfeit bill, selling loose cigarettes on a street corner, a broken brake light—think how many police encounters that ended with the killing of a Black person began with misdemeanor enforcement. If you want to shrink the role of police and the justice system, misdemeanors are the best place to … Continue reading Misdemeanors, Race, and a History of Injustice →

    Restorative Justice is Racial Justice

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2020 64:14


    Restorative justice is about repairing harm. But for Black Americans, what is there to be restored to? In this episode, a roundtable with eight members of the Center for Court Innovation’s Restorative Justice in Schools team. They spent three years embedded in five Brooklyn high schools—all five schools are overwhelmingly Black, and all five had … Continue reading Restorative Justice is Racial Justice →

    Adam Foss: Prosecution and Black Lives Matter

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2020 24:55


    Adam Foss wants to transform the justice system—from within. A former Boston prosecutor who rose to prominence on a TED Talk criticizing his colleagues for using their power more often to jail than to help people, Foss is the executive director of Prosecutor Impact. It trains prosecutors across the country in line with Foss’s vision for … Continue reading Adam Foss: Prosecution and Black Lives Matter →

    Justice and the Virus: Racial Patterns

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2020 20:09


    The death of George Floyd after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for close to nine minutes has triggered a wave of long-held anger and revulsion across the country. Vincent Southerland, the executive director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU, compares Floyd’s death—in public, in … Continue reading Justice and the Virus: Racial Patterns →

    Justice and the Virus with Rachel Barkow

    Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2020 28:23


    With justice systems across the country scrambling to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lot of talk about what justice is going to look like when the virus ends. But what has the response actually consisted of—especially from prisons and jails, which have emerged as epicenters of the virus—and is there any reason … Continue reading Justice and the Virus with Rachel Barkow →

    Getting People Off Rikers Island in a Pandemic

    Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2020 26:12


    The infection rate from COVID-19 in New York City’s Rikers Island jails is currently almost 30 times the rate for the U.S. as a whole. As the city struggled to get people out from behind bars—criticized both for moving too slowly, and for even contemplating releasing anyone early from a jail sentence—it turned to a … Continue reading Getting People Off Rikers Island in a Pandemic →

    The Inequities of COVID-19: A Focus on Public Housing

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2020 17:19


    In cities across the United States, the effects of the coronavirus are not being experienced equally. Whether it’s infection rates, deaths, or job losses, people of low income and people of color are being hit hardest. In New York City, many of those effects are concentrated in communities where public housing is located. The Center … Continue reading The Inequities of COVID-19: A Focus on Public Housing →

    Criminal Justice as Social Justice: Bruce Western

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2020 34:29


    Bruce Western’s book, Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison, is, as its title suggests, about the challenges confronting people re-entering society after a period behind bars. But it’s also inevitably about the deep harms of incarceration itself. And moving further backward still, it’s about the problems and life-histories that leave people vulnerable to the … Continue reading Criminal Justice as Social Justice: Bruce Western →

    “One of These Days We Might Find Us Some Free”: Reginald Dwayne Betts

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2020 42:59


    In 1996, 16-year-old Reginald Dwayne Betts was sentenced to nine years in prison for a carjacking. He spent much of that time reading, and eventually writing. After prison, he went to Yale Law School and published a memoir and three books of poems. But he’s still wrestling with what “after prison” means. This is a … Continue reading “One of These Days We Might Find Us Some Free”: Reginald Dwayne Betts →

    Introducing ‘In Practice’

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2020 1:53


    In Practice is a new podcast from the Center for Court Innovation focusing on practitioners—people working on the ground to make things better for those touched by the justice system. On the first episode, host Rob Wolf looks at the challenge domestic violence cases pose to probation departments. Subscribe today (Apple podcasts)!

    College Incarcerated

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2019 30:46


    At 24, Jarrell Daniels was released from prison after six years behind bars. It was a Thursday. The following Tuesday, he came back to the same facility in street clothes to attend the college class he’d started on the inside. He’s now a sophomore at Columbia University. The class that so inspired him was a … Continue reading College Incarcerated →

    Kim Foxx: Rooted in Humanity

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2019 45:54


    With Kim Foxx running for re-election as State’s Attorney in Cook County (Chicago), it’s an excellent moment to revisit one of the best conversations we’ve had on the podcast. Foxx, the first African-American woman to lead the office, has faced a campaign of sustained, often vicious, opposition from the moment she took the job and … Continue reading Kim Foxx: Rooted in Humanity →

    What Do We Know About Community Service?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2019 31:28


    Community service has long been a staple of sentencing in the U.S., and has long enjoyed a sunny, mostly uninterrogated, reputation as a more restorative and humane alternative to fines and fees or short-term jail. But two new reports—one from the Center for Court Innovation and one from the UCLA Labor Center—suggest many of the … Continue reading What Do We Know About Community Service? →

    Ending Bail, Closing Rikers: How Change Happens

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2019 36:33


    The movements to end cash bail and close jails are connected, and gabriel sayegh has been in the thick of organizing both fights. The co-executive director of the Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice explains why he thinks New York’s impending reforms to bail are potentially the most sweeping in the country. And in … Continue reading Ending Bail, Closing Rikers: How Change Happens →

    ‘Jail-Attributable Deaths’

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2019 43:37


    As chief medical officer for New York City jails, Homer Venters realized early in his tenure that for many people dying in jail, the primary cause of death was jail itself. To document these deaths, Venters and his team created a statistical category no one had dared to track before: “jail-attributable deaths.” His work led … Continue reading ‘Jail-Attributable Deaths’ →

    Art vs. Mass Incarceration

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2019 41:04


    Can art transform the criminal justice system? On this special edition of New Thinking, host Matt Watkins sits down with two New York City artists on the rise—Derek Fordjour and Shaun Leonardo—who both work with our Project Reset to provide an arts-based alternative to court and a criminal record for people arrested on a low-level … Continue reading Art vs. Mass Incarceration →

    Beyond the Algorithm: Risk and Race

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2019 31:09


    **episode originally aired in October 2018** About two out of three people in local jails are being held awaiting trial, often because they can’t afford bail. What if a mathematical formula could do a more objective job of identifying who could be safely released? That’s the promise of risk assessments. But critics call them “justice … Continue reading Beyond the Algorithm: Risk and Race →

    The Art and Science of Reducing Violence

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2019 30:10


    In 2017, more than 17,000 people were murdered in the United States, most of them in cities. Thomas Abt, a long-time policy-maker and researcher, says that far from intractable, there are proven ways to reduce the violence, but he worries the urgency of acting now is being ignored. And when it comes to how we … Continue reading The Art and Science of Reducing Violence →

    Marilyn Mosby, Karl Racine: “We’re Talking About Humans”

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2019 31:36


    With so much of the focus now on keeping people out of jail and prison, it can feel like there is a reluctance among criminal justice reformers to work on improving life for the more than two million people already there. But one group beginning to mobilize on the issue is prosecutors—or at least “progressive” … Continue reading Marilyn Mosby, Karl Racine: “We’re Talking About Humans” →

    Prosecutor Power: Scott Hechinger on the Urgency of Reform

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2019 27:15


    If you’re not following Scott Hechinger on Twitter, you’re missing something important. A public defender and the director of policy at Brooklyn Defender Services, Hechinger is a fantastic explainer and participant-witness at the frontlines of the justice system. In May 2018, he joined our series on prosecutors, outlining how prosecutor power is exerted at key … Continue reading Prosecutor Power: Scott Hechinger on the Urgency of Reform →

    The Pathological Politics of Criminal Justice

    Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2019 35:32


    Rachel Barkow contends criminal justice policy is a “prisoner of politics,” driven by appeals to voters’ worst instincts and an aversion to evidence of what actually works. Defined by its severity and unfairness, the criminal justice system, she says, is counterproductive to the goal of public safety it claims as its justification. In her new … Continue reading The Pathological Politics of Criminal Justice →

    Emily Bazelon: When Power Shifts

    Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2019 37:34


    The well-known journalist and commentator Emily Bazelon talks about her new book, Charged, on the “movement to transform American prosecution,” and where she thinks power might be shifting in the criminal justice system. So-called progressive prosecutors are very much a minority among elected D.A.s, but what if they could be the model for dismantling what … Continue reading Emily Bazelon: When Power Shifts →

    Misdemeanors Matter #3: Rachael Rollins Reboots Low-Level Justice

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2019 42:26


    Rachael Rollins says she has seen the criminal justice system from “almost every angle.” Now, as Boston’s first female African-American district attorney, she’s setting the agenda. She explains her new approach of “services not sentences” as a response to low-level “crimes of poverty” and the urgency of changing the traditional role of the prosecutor. Full … Continue reading Misdemeanors Matter #3: Rachael Rollins Reboots Low-Level Justice →

    New Jails to End All Jails?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2019 31:37


    Rikers Island was once the dream of progressive reformers for a more rehabilitative corrections system. Now New York City, taking advantage of its plunging jail population, has pledged to replace the scandal-plagued complex with four smaller redesigned facilities—located near courthouses, not on an isolated island. It’s a shift the mayor says will end the era … Continue reading New Jails to End All Jails? →

    The Cost of Being Poor? The Fight Against Fines and Fees

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2019 35:19


    Almost any encounter with the criminal justice system comes with a price tag, and fines and fees are capturing millions of Americans in a cycle of poverty and justice-involvement. Various states across the country charge you for using a public defender, a DNA sample, your monthly parole meetings, even a jury trial. And that’s in … Continue reading The Cost of Being Poor? The Fight Against Fines and Fees →

    Prosecutor Power #8: What’s Next for Progressive Prosecutors?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2019


    How can the recent victories of the campaign to elect reform-minded district attorneys be wedded to larger systemic change to ensure the movement’s gains outlast the next election? On the final episode of our Prosecutor Power series, the ACLU’s Somil Trivedi says progressive D.A.s have to take the next step of campaigning to reduce their own … Continue reading Prosecutor Power #8: What’s Next for Progressive Prosecutors? →

    Misdemeanors Matter #2: Alexandra Natapoff on a Legacy of Injustice

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2019


    Alexandra Natapoff calls the misdemeanor justice system a “quiet behemoth”: making up four of every five criminal cases in the U.S., neglected by scholars and reformers, and potentially harming those caught up in it for life. In Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal, she describes … Continue reading Misdemeanors Matter #2: Alexandra Natapoff on a Legacy of Injustice →

    Prosecutor Power #7: Strength in Numbers

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2019


    The movement to elect reform-minded prosecutors has been around long enough and scored enough victories that progressive D.A.s now have their own support network: Fair and Just Prosecution. Miriam Krinsky, its executive director, explains why she thinks “starry-eyed idealists” who want to transform the justice system need to get the message that “the biggest difference … Continue reading Prosecutor Power #7: Strength in Numbers →

    Heal and Punish? When Therapy Is the Alternative to Incarceration

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2019


    How effective is therapy or treatment when it’s used instead of incarceration, and what are the challenges to conducting it inside the coercive context of the criminal justice system? New Thinking host Matt Watkins is joined by clinical psychologist Jacob Ham who works with justice-involved young people affected by trauma, and John Jay College’s Deborah … Continue reading Heal and Punish? When Therapy Is the Alternative to Incarceration →

    Rikers: An American Jail (Best of 2018)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2018 35:37


    Highlights from a public screening and panel discussion of Bill Moyers’s ‘Rikers: An American Jail,’ moderated by New Thinking host, Matt Watkins. Commenting on the film and the future of criminal justice reform are Tina Luongo of the Legal Aid Society, Jill Harris of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, and two of the people formerly … Continue reading Rikers: An American Jail (Best of 2018) →

    Prosecutor Power #6: Larry Krasner, The Antagonist

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2018


    As a defense attorney, Larry Krasner sued the Philadelphia police upwards of 75 times. In late 2017, he was elected D.A. in a landslide. As part of our series on the power of prosecutors, Krasner explains why he has little patience for compromise in a city whose justice system is “an outlier in a country … Continue reading Prosecutor Power #6: Larry Krasner, The Antagonist →

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