Addressing Barriers Through Place-based Community Supervision

• In Event: Lightning Talk: Key Considerations in Community Supervision

Abstract

As an alternative to cash bail, which most are unable to afford, the New York City Supervised Release (SR) program offers community-based pretrial supervision to thousands of New Yorkers each year. Individuals released to the SR program are assigned to a level of supervision ranging from one phone/video call per month to weekly in-person check-ins, and most often, in-person check-ins are conducted at the SR provider agency’s office. Individuals who do not comply with check-in requirements may be removed from the program by the court, increasing the risk of possible pretrial detention. Researchers from the Center for Justice Innovation found disproportionately elevated program noncompliance among participants living in a particular Brooklyn neighborhood. To reduce probable barriers to complying with in-person check-in requirements, the Brooklyn SR program recently opened a new office location in the identified neighborhood. Since opening, there have already been over 1,300 engagements between participants and site-staff. This study will describe the utilization of the new office and measure its impacts by comparing program compliance outcomes between homogeneous subpopulations of SR participants before and after the office was opened.

Author

• Stephanie Antoinetti, Center for Justice Innovation