Episodes

Judge John Leventhal of the New York Appellate Division and attorney Jennifer White of Futures without Violence describe the misconceptions people have about the elderly as both victims and perpetrators of crime. This is one of three podcasts produced in collaboration with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi, I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation and this is one of several special podcasts that the Center is doi...

Theresa Pouley of the Tulalip Tribal Court, Michael Petoskey of the Pokagan Band of Potawatomi Indians, and William A. Thorne Jr., a Pomo/Coast Miwok Indian appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals, discuss the advantages of transferring child welfare cases from state to tribal jurisdiction. This is one of three podcasts produced in collaboration with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi, I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court ...

Jim Henderson, a trainer and lecturer on domestic violence, discusses probation group conferencing, motivational interview techniques, and the importance of community collaboration. SARAH SCHWEIG: Hi. I’m Sarah Schweig at the Center for Court Innovation and today I’m speaking with Jim Henderson. Jim provides technical assistance as a trainer and lecturer to courts, probation offices, and other criminal justice agencies to help them improve their responses to domestic violence as part of the...

Robyn Wiktorski-Reynolds, the advocate program coordinator for Crisis Services in Buffalo, New York, has worked in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault for 12 years. Here she discusses the collaborative nature of victim advocacy work. SARAH SCHWEIG: Hi. I’m Sarah Schweig of the Center for Court Innovation, and today I’m speaking with Robyn Wiktorski-Reynolds. Robyn is the advocate program coordinator for Crisis Services in Buffalo, New York, and she has worked in the field of ...

David M. Sargent of the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence has taught thousands of law enforcement officers how to implement the Lethality Assessment Program, which uses a short survey to assess victims’ risk of being killed and a simple protocol to encourage them to get help. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi, I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. This is New Thinking, our podcast series where we interview justice professionals who are addressing some of th...

New York City Commissioner of Probation Vincent N. Schiraldi, who previously ran the juvenile justice system in Washington D.C., describes his journey from gadfly to government insider and the reforms he’s been implementing along the way. ROBERT V. WOLF: This is Rob Wolf, director of communications for the Center for Court Innovation, and today I’m with Vinnie Schiraldi, who is the commissioner of the Department of Probation in New York City. VINNIE SCHIRALDI: Good morning Rob. Thanks a l...

Mallory O’Brien, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute at Duke University, describes how the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission brings together law enforcement and public health to solve individual homicides. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation, and today I’m speaking with Mallory O’Brien who’s the founding director of the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission. She’s also a researcher in the Public Policy Institute at Duke U...

Anthony Iton of the California Endowment talks about the public health approach to crime and safety problems. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi, I’m Rob Wolf, the director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation and I’m in Los Angeles today with Tony Iton, who is the senior vice president of Healthy Communities, which is an initiative of the California Endowment. And in fact we’re here at The Endowment, at a round table or what’s been called an executive session that’s bringing together leade...

Susan Herman, who served for seven years as the executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, talks about her book Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime. The following is a transcript ROB WOLF: Hi, I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. Welcome to another New Thinking podcast. I’m here with Susan Herman who is an associate professor at Pace University, and formerly the executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime in ...

Court Administrator Susie Martin and Chief Probation Officer Lucinda Yellowhair explain how the Navajo Nation’s pilot community court will draw on their culture’s traditional restorative justice principles. The following is a transcript. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. The Navajo Nation covers 27,000 square miles and has more than a quarter million people and is in the process of developing a pilot community court for their A...

Dianne Gibson, the manager of the community courts in Dallas, Texas, explains how the South Dallas Community Court uses a combination of partnership and problem-solving to link homeless with services while eliminating neighborhood eyesores. ROBERT V. WOLF: This is Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. I’m recently back from Dallas where the Center for Court Innovation sponsored with the Bureau of Justice Assistance Community Justice 2010, the first interna...

Professor David Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention & Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, shares some of what he’s learned about new approaches to addressing gang violence and open-air drug dealing. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. This month’s podcast is the second in a row to offer excerpts from a presentation given to Center for Court Innovation staff by Professor David Kennedy, director of ...

Professor David Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention & Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, explains how the Boston Gun Project laid the groundwork for the Drug Market Initiative pilot in High Point, N.C. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. For this month’s podcast I’m going to share with you some excerpts from a presentation given to Center for Court Innovation staff by Professor David Kennedy, dir...

This podcast includes observations from the presiding judge, Alex Calabrese, and short interviews by Director of Communications Robert V. Wolf with the Brooklyn D.A.’s Chief Assistant District Attorney Anne Swern and Captain Kenneth Corey, commander of the 76th Precinct. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi, I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. When the Red Hook Community Justice Center was created in the year 2000, no one could predict its impact or how long it would ...

Kristine Herman of the Center for Court Innovation spent three months in Afghanistan helping the attorney general establish the nation’s first unit dedicated to prosecuting cases of violence against women. She spoke with the Center’s Director of Communications Robert V. Wolf about her experience. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. I’m Rob Wolf, Director of Communications at the Center for Court Innovation. And today I’m talking with a colleague of mine, Kristine Herman who’s the director of Global Gender ...

Lauren Abramson explains how the Community Conferencing Center, which she founded and leads, provides communities with the structure and support they need to address certain crimes and conflicts on their own.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., following his keynote address at a Harlem Parole Reentry Court graduation, answers questions about reentry, crime prevention, and community prosecution. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi, I’m Rob Wolf, director of Communications at the Center for Court Innovation. This is New Thinking, a podcast about innovations in justice. At the beginning of 2010, Manhattan, which is where the Center for Court Innovation is headquartered, got its first new district attorney in 35 yea...

Gretta Bush and Bobby Davis of High Point Community Against Violence explain how the Drug Market Initiative–a program developed by David Kennedy of John Jay College of Criminal Justice–offers a sustainable and effective strategy for ending the violence associated with open-air drug markets. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi, this is Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. And I’m in High Point, North Carolina, speaking with Gretta Bush, who is the president of High Point C...

Joan Petersilia, a law professor at Stanford University explains what ex-prisoners need to successfully reintegrate into society, and how California’s correction system–once a national model–lost its way. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. I’m Rob Wolf, and welcome to “New Thinking,” a podcast produced by the Center for Court Innovation. Today I’m talking to Joan Petersilia, a law professor at Stanford University and one of the nation’s foremost criminologist. She’s the author of 11 books about crime and...

Derek Miodownik, restorative systems administrator for the Vermont Department of Corrections, talks about the state’s innovative experiments in community and restorative justice, including Citizen Reparative Boards, which give panels of community members a role in working with misdemeanor offenders, and Circles of Support and Accountability, which link community members with parolees convicted of serious crimes. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. This is Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center ...

Legendary entertainer Harry Belafonte congratulates graduates of the Harlem Parole Reentry Court for satisfying the program’s rigorous requirements. ROBERT V. WOLF: The 10th graduation of the Harlem Parole Reentry Court featured a special guest. HARRY BELAFONTE: I was born in Harlem. I grew up in Harlem. I’m in my 82nd year of life and I’m still alive. (APPLAUSE) WOLF: That was Harry Belafonte, singer, actor, and activist as he congratulated the Reentry Court’s graduates on satisfying ...

West Huddleston, CEO of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, talks about his group’s new web site, why the nation’s 2,300-plus drug courts reach only 10 percent of the people they’re designed to help, and what’s next on the horizon for the drug court movement. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. My name is Rob Wolf and I’m director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. Today I have the pleasure of talking with West Huddleston who is the executive director of the National As...

Ronald B. Adrine, the administrative and presiding judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court talks about differentiating between defendants who are habitual batterers and defendants who are one-time perpetrators (such as those acting in self defense). ROBERT V. WOLF: How, I’m Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. Today I’m speaking with Ronald B. Adrine, who is the administrative and presiding Judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. And he’s here in New York ...

Herb Sturz–the subject of a new book, A Kind of Genius, by New York Times reporter Sam Roberts–talks about innovation, the power of private-public collaborations, the founding of the Midtown Community Court, and his current work at the Open Society Institute. ROBERT V. WOLF: Hi. This is Rob Wolf, director of communications at the Center for Court Innovation. Today I’m at the Open Society Institute with Herb Sturz. It’s difficult for me to even begin to describe who he is because he’s done s...