Red Hook Justice - Your Community. Your Court.

Court Officer Leroy Davis The Justice Center is saying farewell to our beloved Court Officer Leroy Davis as he retires after 20 years as a New York State Court Officer. Leroy has played a critical part in the success of the Justice Center since we opened 11 years ago. Leroy’s claim to fame is our 10 minute overview video, “ Red Hook Justice ,” which countless friends, visitors, and court administrators have seen. The video features Leroy walking through Red Hook saying, “I’ve got to be a part of that” and “we treat the community with a lot more respect”.   During his time here, Leroy has established a tone of respect and approachability that has set a standard for how courts around the world inter-act with the public. Leroy was raised in Red Hook and is also a Veteran. In addition to his duties as a Court Officer, Leroy has helped mentor many youth coming though the Justice Center and around the neighborhood. He will be dearly missed and we wish him the best on his new ventu...

Last week Michael Casey of the local English online paper,  YourThurrock.Com visited the Justice Center to learn from our experience with restorative justice and working with our community in Red Hook.  You can see the interview with Deputy Project Director, Jessica Colon on the link below. YourThurrock.com is an on-line newspaper covering every aspect of life of the borough of Thurrock in London, England.  http://www.yourthurrock.com/2011/12/02/yt-in-nyc-what-can-thurrock-learn-from-the-brooklyn-courts/

The Sentencing Project's  new film , Unlocking Justice , highlights three programs, including the Red Hook Community Justice Center. The video emphasizes the Center's use of drug, mental health, and trauma-focused treat ment as alternatives to incarceration, as well as its collaborative approach to community justice. The film was debuted at the Sentencing Project's 25th Anniversary forum , "C riminal Justice 2036: A 25-Year Vision for Reform."

Congratulations to our friends at the New York Peace Institute (NYPI) for a successful launch. After 30 years, The New York Peace Institute successfully spun off from the Safe Horizon Mediation Program into an independent organization. The New York Peace Institute provides valuable mediation services and conflict resolution workshops to our local community and cases at the Red Hook Community Justice Center. The offer a proven and effective alternative for conflict resolution. We wish them the best of luck as they bring their service to the City and beyond, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership. Julian Adler, Project Director, and Jessica Colon, Deputy Project Director of the Red Hook Community Justice Center at the NYPI launch party on October 6, 2011.

Last Friday the Red Hook Community Justice Center proudly swore in its 17th AmeriCorps cohort. It was a wonderful occasion to cap off our first week of training and orientation. Members in our Americorps program, the New York Juvenile Justice Corps , serve at-risk youth and their communities. Every year we recruit 58 individuals to serve as part time and full time volunteers in Center for Court Innovations projects, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Officer Leroy Davis, a life-long Red Hook resident and Court Office of the Justice Center had the honor of swearing in the members. After the swearing-in ceremony, the members were led by Reg Flowers of Falcon Works  Artists Group, a local Red Hook performing arts organization, in an inter-active team building exercise. We're looking forward to another successful year of service with our new members. Court Officer Leroy Davis swears in our newest AmeriCo...

Today the Red Hook Community Justice Center hosted an event to celebrate a unique partnership between the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), generationOn , and the Center for Court Innovation to implement a pilot Service Learning initiative. OCFS Commissioner, Gladys Carrion, addressed the audience and emphasized the need to continue partnerships that are helping OCFS keep kids involved in the juvenile justice system closer to home and in their communities with positive programming. This new initiative places AmeriCorps volunteers from the Center for Court Innovation’s New York Juvenile Justice Corps in OCFS’ Brooklyn and Bronx’s facilities. These highly-trained members facilitate and bring to life a Service Learning curriculum designed by generationOn, “Be the Change New York.” The curriculum is based on a restorative justice model and is designed to re-engage youth through Service Learning projects.  The AmeriCorps members serve as instructors and...

The Red Hook Youth Court members, Youth from the JustArts: Photography Program and the Internship Program had an exciting day visiting Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, 2011 on August 5, 2011. For some of the youth it was their first time visiting colleges outside of New York City.  At Temple University, the youth received a tour of the campus where they learned about the admission process, the university's majors, student life and special clubs and programs they offered. Some youth were hesitant of asking questions at first; however, as the tour went on many of the youth were comfortable to ask questions regarding the majors and the admissions process for Temple. In addition, many of the youth were fascinated by the University of Pennsylvania and they enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about the college admission process, scholarships that are offered. One youth court member, Shaquille, was fascinated with the Engineering Pro...