March 10, 2018

Bookshelf: Reducing mass incarceration

Brooklyn Eagle -From The New Press, “Start Here” has been called a “clearly written, optimistic road map for moving beyond mass incarceration.” Authors Greg Berman, director of the Center for Court Innovation, and Julian Adler, director of policy and research at the Center for Court Innovation, provide a concrete blueprint for reducing incarceration while increasing public trust in justice that can be applied right now.

The co-authors both got their start in the Red Hook Community Center, and continue to do work in Brooklyn through the Center for Court Innovation. From violence interrupters in Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant to involving teens in local development projects in Brownsville, “Start Here” points to these local reforms as one of the leading ways to end mass incarceration.

Looking at successful reforms in New York, Berman and Adler propose that the trick to addressing violent crime starts at the grassroots level, with creative strategies for community-based prevention, including the violence interrupter model, place-making projects and youth development work with high-risk teens.

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