Community courts offer an alternative to traditional justice systems for low-level crimes, providing community service and access to mental health and substance abuse assistance. The first modern community court was launched in New York City in 1993 and has since gained popularity in the US and other parts of the world. Community courts work alongside traditional justice programs to provide more attention to low-level offenses and combat criminal problems in grassroots-level neighborhoods.
Community court is an alternative court system devised in the 1990s as a partnership between private organizations and state and local law enforcement agencies and justice departments. In community courts, defendants charged with misdemeanors, such as criminal acts, public drunkenness, or vandalism, are given community service duties instead of jail time and fines. Convicted defendants also have access to substance abuse assistance and mental health staff. The community court aims to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods by providing expeditious justice that assists the community and attempts to prevent crime by helping convicted defendants find assistance and the tools for a legitimate future.
The first modern community court, Midtown Community Court, was launched in New York City in 1993, as a result of a partnership between the New York Justice System and a think tank called the Center for Court Innovation. Midtown Community Court manages the Times Square neighborhood of Manhattan, an area long notorious for a high crime rate with significant levels of prostitution, drug dealing and vandalism. Many of these low-level crimes result in a fine or a few days in jail through the traditional system, but the establishment of Midtown has created an alternative solution aimed at reducing the root causes of crime in the neighborhood and improving the community through a ordained community service.
With Midtown’s successful integration into the larger New York court system, community courts soon began to gain popularity in the United States and parts of the rest of the world. The resulting courts share the goals of the original, but many have their own rules that are worked out between court officials and law enforcement personnel. In Portland, Oregon, for example, defendants can only enter community court if they agree to plead guilty. After completing the required community service, their conviction can be stricken from the record to give the former offender a clean slate.
Community courts don’t seek to undermine traditional justice programs, but instead seek to work with court systems to provide more attention to cases that may fall under the radar of a more expansive justice system. In a court dealing with homicide, large-scale felonies, and other extremely important crimes, the careful handling of low-level offenders is understandably not the top priority. By creating an alternative system that deals only with low-level crime, community courts help combat criminal problems in grassroots-level neighborhoods.
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