About

Our vision

At the Centre for Justice Innovation, we seek to build a justice system which every citizen believes is fair and effective.

We believe that the justice system should be focused on solving the issues that drive crime and social harm; that it should be fair in how it treats people; that it should be proportionate in the things it does; and that those on the front line should be given the freedom and support to come up with innovative solutions to the problems their communities face.

To deliver our vision of fairer and more effective justice system, we:

• provide hands on support to practitioners in the justice system to help them develop and share innovative and effective practice;
• conduct research into how things work right now and how they could work better; 
• promote evidence-based, innovative justice policy reforms;
• share lessons between the jurisdictions of the UK and with our sister organisation in New York City, the Center for Court Innovation, who are at the forefront of problem-solving and community justice innovation in the USA.

Our work 

Some of our main projects include:

• Supporting evidence-led pre-court diversion to keep communities safer. We provide free training, consultancy and practice sharing to YOTs and police forces, and also work to build the evidence base;
• Encouraging the spread of Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDACs), to improve outcomes for children and families. We provide free mentoring and training to new areas setting up FDACs, provide operational tools and resources for FDACs as well as promoting shared practice between FDACs;
• Encouraging problem-solving initiatives in the criminal courts to address the problems that bring people to court in the first place. We provide consultancy and practice sharing to new and existing problem-solving projects as well as promoting shared practice between them;
• Providing advice, information and support to people who visit Highbury Corner magistrates’ court, as well as offering free support to other magistrates courts looking to replicate the model;
• Mapping innovative projects in justice across the UK, to promote and share best practice;
• Doing research to improve the use and effectiveness of community sentences.

Our support

Many of our projects are funded by charitable trusts. This enables us to provide free support, training and advice to practitioners in Youth Offending Teams, Children’s Services, the judiciary, police forces, probation services and others. 

If you want to explore whether we can help you, please contact us. 

We are always looking to develop new programs of work, so if you are a funder please do drop us a line too.

The formal bit

The Centre is registered as a charity in England and Wales. Our charity number is 1151939.

The Centre is a company limited by guarantee. Our company number is 08274430

Our most recent set of audited accounts can be accessed here.

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