Center for Justice Innovation
A New York-based nonprofit that develops, evaluates, and helps implement evidence-informed approaches to justice reform.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
The Center for Justice Innovation is an American nonprofit organization headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1996 as the Center for Court Innovation, it was created through a public-private partnership between the New York State Unified Court System and the Fund for the City of New York. The organization grew out of the Midtown Community Court, an experiment in judicial problem-solving established in 1993 to respond to low-level offenses around Times Square. Rather than relying solely on conventional punishment, the court connected accountability with community service, treatment, and other responses intended to address the effects of offending on victims, defendants, and neighborhoods. The center’s stated mission is to help create a more effective and humane justice system. Its work combines direct program operation, research, technical assistance, and public education. It designs and runs demonstration projects intended to test new methods, studies their results, and shares lessons with courts, government agencies, community organizations, and justice reformers. Its practical focus has included reducing unnecessary incarceration, improving public trust, supporting victims, preventing violence, addressing substance use and mental health needs, and promoting positive change for individuals and families. Its operating portfolio has included community courts, alternatives to incarceration, treatment and reentry programs, youth justice initiatives, domestic-violence and mental-health courts, community mediation, restorative justice, and neighborhood-based violence-prevention projects. Notable examples include the Midtown Community Court, the Red Hook Community Justice Center, the Harlem Community Justice Center, Bronx Community Solutions, the Queens Youth Justice Center, Brooklyn Treatment Court, Newark Community Solutions, the Brooklyn Mental Health Court, the Parole Reentry Court, the Youth Justice Board, Youth Courts, and the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center. Programs such as Circles for Safe Streets apply restorative principles by facilitating conversations between drivers and people injured in traffic collisions. Beyond New York, the center provides hands-on assistance to judges, attorneys, justice officials, community groups, and policymakers. Assistance can include data analysis, program design, planning facilitation, evaluation, technology guidance, and study visits to operating programs. The organization has supported efforts involving community prosecution, domestic violence, drug courts, tribal justice, procedural justice, and problem-solving courts. Its community-court model has influenced projects in jurisdictions across the United States and abroad, including work with officials in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Scotland, Japan, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and Canada. Research is central to the organization’s identity. Its researchers evaluate demonstration programs, examine how justice systems and neighborhoods function, identify effective practices, and document shortcomings or unintended consequences. The center has also published manuals, best-practice guides, and books on problem-solving justice and criminal justice reform. Its work has received recognition including the Innovations in American Government Award associated with Harvard University and the Ford Foundation, the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation, and a Citizens Budget Commission public-sector innovation prize. The organization was formerly known as the Center for Court Innovation and later adopted the Center for Justice Innovation name to reflect a broader scope extending beyond courts. Its first director was John Feinblatt, who later became a senior adviser to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Greg Berman led the organization from 2002 through 2020. Courtney Bryan is identified as its executive director. The center remains an active nonprofit focused on testing, studying, and spreading practical approaches to justice reform.
History
The Center for Justice Innovation developed from New York City’s Midtown Community Court, which opened in 1993 as an experiment in problem-solving justice. The court was designed to respond to low-level offenses in the Times Square area through a combination of proportionate accountability, community service, treatment referrals, and attention to neighborhood conditions. Its planners sought to make the justice process more responsive to victims and residents while addressing factors associated with recurring offending. The experiment’s perceived value helped inspire the creation of the Center for Court Innovation in 1996. The center was structured as a public-private partnership involving the New York State Unified Court System and the Fund for the City of New York. Its purpose was to provide an institutional base for research and development in justice, separate from the day-to-day administration of courts while remaining connected to practitioners and public agencies. This structure enabled the organization to design demonstration programs, operate them in partnership with government and community groups, and evaluate their effects. During its development, the center expanded beyond the Midtown model. The Red Hook Community Justice Center became a prominent example of a neighborhood-based court integrating multiple case types and community engagement. Other initiatives addressed treatment, youth justice, domestic violence, mental health, parole and reentry, mediation, community prosecution, and violence prevention. Some projects remained affiliated with the center, while others eventually became independent operations. Across these programs, the organization emphasized collaborative planning, creative problem-solving, and the use of data to assess outcomes. The center also became a national and international source of technical assistance. It worked with courts, justice agencies, local governments, and community organizations seeking to adapt community-court and problem-solving approaches to their own circumstances. Assistance included needs assessments, strategic planning, evaluation, training, data analysis, and implementation support. International collaborations included work connected with community courts in South Africa and exchanges with officials from the United Kingdom, Scotland, Japan, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and Canada. The organization’s approach generally treated local adaptation as essential rather than presenting a single fixed model for every jurisdiction. Research and publication formed a second major strand of the center’s history. Staff evaluated the organization’s own programs and studied justice initiatives elsewhere, including efforts that produced mixed or unsuccessful results. Publications addressed problem-solving courts, implementation, evaluation, and lessons from criminal justice reform. The center also hosted visitors and practitioners interested in observing its programs and translating their methods to other settings. Leadership included founding director John Feinblatt and Greg Berman, who served as director from 2002 to 2020. The organization later changed its name from the Center for Court Innovation to the Center for Justice Innovation, signaling a broader mission that included community safety, violence prevention, restorative justice, victims’ services, and other activities not confined to court institutions. Courtney Bryan is identified as executive director. The organization remains active as a nonprofit combining direct services, applied research, and reform support.
- 2020
End of Greg Berman’s directorship
[1]Greg Berman’s tenure as director concludes after serving from 2002.
- 2010
Trial & Error in Criminal Justice Reform is published
[1]Urban Institute Press publishes a book by Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox examining lessons from failure and experimentation in criminal justice reform.
- 2005
Good Courts is published
[1]The New Press publishes Good Courts: The Case for Problem-Solving Justice, presenting the emerging problem-solving court movement and examples from the center’s projects.
- 2002
Greg Berman becomes director
[1]Greg Berman begins a directorate that continues through 2020.
- 1996
Center for Court Innovation is founded
[1]New York’s state court system and the Fund for the City of New York establish the organization as a continuing engine for court research and reform.
- 1993
Midtown Community Court begins
[1]The Midtown Community Court launches as an experiment in neighborhood-focused, problem-solving responses to low-level offenses in Times Square.
Name changes to Center for Justice Innovation
[2]The organization adopts a name reflecting work that extends beyond courts into community safety, violence prevention, reentry, restorative justice, and related fields.
Products and positioning
A research-driven justice reform partner that combines direct program delivery, independent evaluation, and implementation assistance. The organization positions itself between public-sector justice institutions, community organizations, and reform advocates, using demonstration projects to test approaches that may reduce incarceration, improve safety, and strengthen trust in justice.
Community court · 1993
Midtown Community Court
A neighborhood-focused court developed to address low-level offenses around Times Square. It links legal accountability with community service, treatment, and other constructive responses, and became the foundational experiment from which the center emerged.
Community justice center
Red Hook Community Justice Center
A community-oriented justice project in Brooklyn that brings problem-solving methods, community engagement, and coordinated responses to local justice needs. It has served as a model studied and adapted by jurisdictions elsewhere.
Research service · 1996
Research and evaluation
Applied research examining justice programs, neighborhoods, government systems, and reform strategies. The work seeks to identify effective practices while documenting limitations, implementation challenges, and approaches that require improvement.
Professional assistance · 1996
Technical assistance
Hands-on support for judges, lawyers, justice officials, community organizations, and policymakers. Services can include planning, data analysis, evaluation, technology guidance, training, implementation support, and facilitated learning visits.
Restorative justice program
Circles for Safe Streets
A restorative justice initiative that facilitates conversations between drivers and people injured in traffic collisions, creating a structured setting for accountability, understanding, and repair.
Brand decisions
- Broaden mission from court innovation to justice innovationStrategy
Background
The organization’s programs expanded from court-centered experiments into violence prevention, reentry, restorative justice, youth services, community mediation, and other justice-related fields.
Action taken
It adopted the Center for Justice Innovation name and presented itself as a broader justice reform organization.
Aftermath
The name better reflects its combination of direct programs, research, and technical assistance across courts and communities.
Sources2 sources
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