What kind of programming would proposed Staten Island community justice center have?

New York’s Staten Island. On Staten Island, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and other community leaders have been working for years to realize the idea of a new community justice center.

However, how would that appear?

A website like this, which seeks to provide alternatives to jail by offering a variety of services, needs supervision and committed staff to make the programming engaging. The Center for Justice Innovation (CJI), a community justice group and longtime collaborator in determining the optimistic center’s future, steps in at this point.

The former Stapleton Criminal Court building, which is set to become the location of Staten Island’s very own community justice center, was toured by McMahon for Advance/SILive.com back in early October. Even though the proposed site needs some work, a $5 million investment made public in the city’s 2025 budget was a big step in creating a borough-wide alternative to regular court procedures.

Located in almost every borough except Staten Island, these justice centers benefit the community by offering social services and programming to those with minor offenses as an alternative to incarceration. In addition to helping people who are already involved with the legal system, these facilities aim to encourage the growth of young people who are at risk and offer all locals a variety of helpful services.

On Thursday, October 3, 2024, the Staten Island Community Justice Center’s hopeful location on Targee Street in Stapleton was viewed from the lobby of the former Criminal Court building. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)(Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

Speaking to the Advance/SILive.com, Kelly Mulligan, a senior director on the CJI court reform team, explained how this courtroom may help the people of Staten Island.

What is CJI and what does it do?

Through its departments, the Manhattan-based non-profit Center for Justice Innovation has a national and worldwide presence.

In its work, CJI carries out a number of operations. According to Mulligan, it frequently collaborates with local governments and the federal government to develop various forms of community justice initiatives.

Research is another area in which CJI works. While collaborating with other institutions on national research is nothing new to CJI, the organization also has a team devoted to carrying out internal evaluations of its ongoing initiatives.

These operational projects are CJI’s on-the-ground initiatives in New Jersey, upstate New York, and New York City.

On Thursday, October 3, 2024, a view of one of the courtrooms in the former criminal courthouse on Targee Street in Stapleton, the hopeful location of the future Staten Island Community Justice Center. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)(Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

“Midtown Manhattan was where these projects were first introduced into the community more than 25 years ago,” Mulligan said. The majority of the work was done in conjunction with the courts at the time.

Mulligan discussed some current initiatives, including how CJI continues to collaborate with various problem-solving courts and specialty courts like mental health courts. CJI works with people released on bail through a program known as supervised release as part of its agreement with New York City. Through frequent check-ins and the facilitation of linkages to community-based programs, case managers in this particular program make sure people facing criminal charges show up for their scheduled court appearances.

Although CJI still carries out this kind of work in collaboration with the courts, it also prioritizes community-based programming.

After that, we began working on community-based programming more frequently over the years, Mulligan said. In certain cases, these programs assist in providing at-risk populations with exits from the legal system. Working with at-risk youth to offer pro-social engagement and opportunities can be one way to do this; it may be after their first arrest or when they are placed on probation in an effort to keep them out of the legal system.

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CJI currently runs several community justice centers with these services across the city, albeit each center is unique.

For instance, the Brooklyn-based Red Hook Community Justice Center serves as a court and offers both a stand-alone court and diversionary programming inside the building. Others, on the other hand, concentrate their efforts on community development and pro-social participation and do not include the court component.

Existing programming on Staten Island

While there isn’t a separate community justice center on Staten Island, the borough does have programming offered by the Center for Justice Innovation.

In 2009, CJI started implementing programming on Staten Island. According to Mulligan, a large portion of the work at the time focused on young people involved with the legal system; this programming has subsequently grown.

At the moment, the group operates two offices on the Island: one on Bay Street in St. George and one on Beach Street in Stapleton. The latter operational center integrates court-based programming, such as supervised release, driver accountability, and alternative to jail programs, into its paradigm.

Many of the community-focused activities, including workforce development and an adult re-entry program designed to help those who are having difficulty reintegrating after incarceration, are provided by those who work on Beach Street.

CJI has been able to provide off ramps for Staten Island adolescents before they are too far gone by collaborating with the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office (RCDA). Mulligan also highlighted pro-social cohort initiatives that were put into place in response to research conducted to determine the interests of teenagers who were at risk.

On Staten Island, CJI also runs a family enrichment center, a program designed to help families access community resources they want to see. Mulligan claims that CJI has recently made some progress in helping people who are food insecure.

The creation of a service hub

We’ve been working with RCDA for years now—I mean, before COVID—to attempt to set up a more conventional Staten Island Community Justice Center that would resemble one of the models we have in another borough, Mulligan said.

This center was originally intended to follow the Red Hook concept, however Mulligan explained that the plan now takes a slightly different form.

As seen on Thursday, October 3, 2024, one of the courtrooms of the former criminal courthouse on Targee Street in Stapleton, the prospective location of the new Staten Island Community Justice Center. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)(Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

According to Mulligan, the approach we’re currently considering is to continue some of the programs that we’ve been able to introduce in our community office over the past few years.

The young Impact model, a young leadership development program centered on peer-led mentorship and violence intervention and prevention techniques, is one of the programs planned for this new location. Mulligan adds that the new facility would incorporate a placemaking program designed to reinvigorate public areas.

CJI’s placemaking committee, which is made up of stipended community members, organized a community garden event earlier this year in coordination with the district attorney. Similar events are planned by CJI for the upcoming spring.

An photograph from the Staten Island Justice Center from April 2024 of a community garden event. (Source: SIJC employees)(Source: SIJC employees)

In the end, the center would offer both voluntary and court-mandated activities to help both regular community members and those who had accomplished their judicial obligations.

According to Mulligan, the plan is to integrate those (pre-existing services) into the broader community justice center space and use it as a co-location area for other community-based social service providers.

Residents want a one-stop service center under one roof, according to Mulligan’s findings from a collaborative community survey that was partially funded by McMahon’s office.

Mulligan stated that the other CJI office locations on Bay and Beach streets would continue to operate, even if the goal is to bring these services to the prospective community justice center location at Targee Street. This would increase the organization’s reach and enable case managers and staff to visit whichever site is most convenient for them.

Viewed on Thursday, October 3, 2024, the Staten Island Community Justice Center’s potential location within the former Criminal Courthouse on Targee Street in Stapleton. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)(Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

Even while this new center aims to follow previous successful CJI models, Mulligan makes it apparent that they are always looking to get feedback from the neighborhood.

According to her, each community justice center has a slightly different appearance since they must be tailored to the particular neighborhood, city, or jurisdiction they serve. For this reason, a large portion of the work we have done with RCDA over the years has involved conducting community surveys in an effort to find out what the community expects from this justice center.

Evidential success and the road forward

Regarding the effectiveness of these centers, Mulligan states that the majority of current locations carry out assessments following a specific number of years.

Models in other boroughs have benefited their communities, as stated in a CJI-prepared Strategic Action Plan for the Staten Island Community Justice Center.

Spaces within the old criminal courthouse on Targee Street in Stapleton, the hopeful site of the Staten Island Community Justice Center, as seen on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)(Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

Adult defendants whose cases were handled in the Red Hook Community Justice Center were 10% less likely to commit new crimes than those whose cases were handled in a traditional court, according to CJI. Juvenile defendants that went through the Red Hook center were 20% less likely to re-offend.

Additionally, defendants at Bronx Community Solutions perform more than 40,000 hours of community service each year, including beautifying spaces, much like the placemaking program on the Island.

Before the Red Hook Center opened in Brooklyn, a door-to-door survey found that only 12% of area residents approved of courts. Several years after the center was opened, CJI found that 78% supported a community court in their neighborhood.

Mulligan hopes to continue hearing from the community on what they wish to see in the center as the design and planning continues. However, in order for this center to come to fruition, additional capital funding from anywhere between $25 million and $50 million is still required, according to McMahon s estimates.

For more information on programs offered on Staten Island by CJI, visithttps://www.innovatingjustice.org/programs/staten-island-justice-center.