Mapping Innovation

We work to promote the best of Britain’s innovative justice practice.
Kairos is a Coventry-based women's charity who have developed a womens justice support service for women who are in contact with the criminal justice system who are also subject to, or at risk of, sexual exploitation.
The Sunflower Women's Centre is the first and only women's centre in Plymouth. They offer a wrap-around service for women with a range of complex needs.
NEST (Nurture Empower Safe Together) is a service in Rochdale that takes a different approach to working with parents and their partners who have experienced recurrent care proceedings.
The Y2A Hub is a multi-agency hub for all young people on probation in Newham, which offers a developmentally appropriate and maturity-informed approach, supporting young people to gradually become adults.
Humberside Police have developed a diversion programme for clients of sex workers, which sits alongside their work to safeguard sex workers in the area.
LEPH (Law Enforcement Public Health) Link is a brief intervention and signposting app, inspired by public health principles.
Devon and Cornwall Police have adapted their existing Deferred Prosecution Scheme for 18-25s and Care Leavers.
Flourish is a therapeutic outreach service for women in Lambeth who have experience of care proceedings or the removal of a child from their care and are at risk of recurrent care proceedings.
Together for Childhood is a long-term project that uses a place-based approach in four communities to prevent child abuse.
Established in 1996, Everyman Project was a counselling service for men who wanted help to cease their violent and/or abusive behaviours.
My Ally is a service run by Watford Women’s Centre that provides emotional and practical support, via a support line and e-mail, to women who have been subjected to domestic abuse.
Future Living is a registered charity in Hertford that supports individuals who have been subject to domestic abuse. The Monica Programme is an ongoing support group therapy offered to women and Wise Guys is a programme specifically for male victims of domestic abuse.
Suffolk Positive Futures (SPF) provides outreach sports sessions as interventions to directly engage with young people within troubled communities.
Lifelong Links is a programme developed by Family Rights Group to connect young people in care to a support network of people who are important to them.
The DAISY Programme is an attachment based perinatal programme for parents who have had a previous child removed from their care.
Family Safeguarding is a strengths-based, whole-family approach to child protection. It brings together all professionals working with a family in one multi-disciplinary team with the goal of keeping more children safely at home with their families.
This multi-agency, early intervention project, supports the well-being of vulnerable and expectant parents. The project aims to break the links between early disadvantages - social and health inequalities - and poor future outcomes for families by providing wide-ranging support.
New Chance is an adult diversion scheme for women based in the West Midlands. Participants are referred by police and are given access to a programme of tailored support.
Glasgow Alcohol Court was established in 2018 and seeks to reduce the rates of reoffending by supporting individuals who offend with their underlying alcohol issues.
C3 targets individuals who are engaged in prolific, non-violent adult residential burglary offending. Participants are given a deferred sentence and an intensive community sentence plan tailored to their individual needs.
The Glasgow Drug Court aims to reduce drug misuse and related offending. If accepted on the programme, participants must engage in drug treatment, regular drug testing, and court reviews to monitor progress.
The Edinburgh APSC is aimed at adult men with a pattern of low-level alcohol-related offending. They receive a community order incorporating addiction treatment, regular judicial reviews and support with additional needs.
Pathfinder is a Deferred Caution and Deferred Charge scheme run by Devon and Cornwall Police. The diversion scheme aims to reduce harm and re-offending through the use of interventions with a strong community focus.
FDAC is a therapeutic, problem-solving court model which aims to provide parents with intensive support to help them to address their drug and alcohol issues, and reduce the numbers of children in care.
NBFCIO is a charity in Stockport that works with parents who are involved with children’s services but have underlying issues. By addressing and building emotional resistance through the Trauma-Informed Programme, parents are able to meet their children’s needs.
The EAT programme is a police-led initiative in Wales that seeks to establish a multi-agency approach to tackling offending behaviour by identifying and supporting people who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences.
The Aspire programme was set up to support young men who are marginalised from communities and at risk of becoming involved in criminal or paramilitary activity.
Aberdeen Problem-Solving Approach (PSA) seeks to reduce the use of short custodial sentences by providing disposals to women and young men with complex needs and multiple previous convictions.
REACH provides intensive multidisciplinary support to families with children who are experiencing multiple complex needs.
re:shape took a holistic approach to reducing the risk of sexual harm and keeping communities safe by offering tailored interventions to those at risk of causing sexual harm.
The IVY Project uses a multi-disciplinary approach to provide risk formulation, assessment and intervention for young people who present with complex needs and high risk, violent behaviour.
The CSTR scheme aims to reduce reoffending by improving access to mental health and substance misuse treatment in the community through greater use of treatment requirements in community or suspended sentence orders.
These services provide mental health support to people in Dorset who are in contact with the criminal justice system.
These projects in Northamptonshire focus on providing mental health support to eligible women who would otherwise be facing a custodial sentence, and support to people who frequently call the police during crisis moments.
The Whole Systems Approach adopted in Sussex centres on a multi-agency approach to addressing the complex needs of women who are in contact with the justice system by supporting them to access relevant services.
Kent, Surrey & Sussex CRC has implemented a different strategy for supporting women who offend which recognises the complex needs of the women they work with and the need for trauma-informed intervention.
Two projects set up by Northumbria Police, RESPOND and Street Triage Service, aim to improve the way that police and other agencies respond to individuals with mental health issues.
Project Future is a coproduced holistic well-being and mental health service that is community-based and works with young people and families who have experience in the criminal justice system (CJS).

This map charts innovative projects happening across the UK’s justice systems. You can search and filter the projects to find things that are most interesting to you.

The Centre for Justice Innovation regularly engages with practitioners to find out what’s exciting them in the world of justice. We want to know what projects practitioners are running that they are most proud of and, just as importantly, the ones a few counties away that are inspiring them.

We are expanding the map so that it not only includes innovations in criminal justice, but also in public family law and the child welfare system. We are keen to hear from practitioners from across the UK about new and exciting initiatives that we can add in all areas. If you would like your work to be included, please get in touch

Before you get in touch, please be aware that in order to be included on our map we require that your project:

  • is led by, delivered in partnership or commissioned by a statutory agency;
  • can demonstrate improved outcomes. In criminal justice, this might be for victims or service-users, or in family justice, for parents and children.
  • is innovative! By that we mean, it is trying something new in your locality or for that particular target group.