About Us – Center for Justice Innovation

Strengthening Approaches to Treatment-based Diversion and Alternatives to Incarceration

We host site visits to court and community-based programs, produce toolkits and guiding publications, deliver training presentations at conferences, provide hands-on strategic planning and implementation support, and maintain online learning systems.

To achieve our goals, we use equitable collaboration, engaging a wide range of community and court-based stakeholders, person-centered practices, centering individuals directly impacted, a transformative approach, promoting bold actions for systems change, anti-racism, directly addressing systemic disparities in the justice and treatment systems, and equity and inclusion, ensuring that people of all backgrounds have access to and are supported in treatment courts.

Strengthening Approaches to Treatment-based Diversion and Alternatives to Incarceration

The National Training and Technical Assistance team at the Center for Justice Innovation comprises former prosecutors, defense attorneys, clinicians, researchers, public policy experts, and individuals with lived experience. We work under a variety of grant-based funding to provide technical assistance to individuals, jurisdictions, and state-level agencies to improve their treatment courts’ adherence to best practices. Since 2010, the Center has served as the training and technical assistance (TTA) provider for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Statewide Adult Treatment Court Training and Technical Assistance Program, providing TTA to nearly every state in the country and numerous state treatment court associations.

Our training and technical assistance work is aimed at strengthening court-based approaches to diversion, alternatives to incarceration, and treatment and recovery support for individuals with substance use disorder. We provide a wide variety of support to jurisdictions nationwide, including hosting site visits to court and community-based programs in New York City, delivering training presentations at conferences, providing hands-on strategic planning and implementation support, conducting research evaluations of court programs, and maintaining online learning systems.

To achieve our goals, the Center uses equitable collaboration, engaging a wide range of community and court-based stakeholders, person-centered practices, centering individuals directly impacted in our work, a transformative approach, promoting bold actions for systems change, anti-racism, directly addressing systemic disparities in the justice and treatment systems, and equity and inclusion, ensuring that people of all backgrounds have access to and are supported in treatment courts.

Meet the Team

Akdana Kamal

Senior Program Manager

Bringing awareness and innovation through collaborating and fostering partnerships is crucial in offsetting the negative consequences that often accompany contact with the criminal justice system and it is something that will help strengthen communities across the U.S.

Alejandra Garcia

Senior Program Manager

I do this work because I believe that investing in systems of care, like housing and healthcare, and redistributing resources from criminal legal systems can create thriving and sustainable communities where folks can live meaningful and dignified lives, together.

Colleen Gibbons

Senior Program Manager

I am a people person who operates in a systems' mindset. I believe that by continuously challenging, reforming, and improving our criminal legal systems we help to create better paths forward for individuals, families, and communities.

Courtney Williams

Senior Research Associate

I believe that through partnerships, education, and community engagement we can bring more empathetic and comprehensive approaches to achieve criminal justice reform.

Jarred Williams

Senior Research Associate

After experiencing firsthand the horrors of incarceration, I vowed to make a difference. Research is the tool I use to positively impact the people and communities most impacted by the criminal legal system.

Janelle Cotto

Director, Program Operations

I enjoy collaborating with others to promote transformation within the justice systems. I believe that through research and effective facilitation, we can advance discussions that encourage people to consider alternative approaches to these systems.

Karen Otis

Associate Director

I believe in change and an individual’s ability to change and grow from their experiences. Change can happen at any time so I believe in unlimited second chances and opportunities.

Kelly Van Develde

Associate Director

I work with the goal of contributing to a more just criminal legal system. I believe that through targeted, person-centered, and action-oriented work positive change can be created.

Monica Christofferson

Director of Treatment Court Programs

I believe there is hope to change our systems when we look at creative solutions rooted in humanity,humility, and empathy. Using those principles to make systems change that positively impact my community is why I do this work.

Spencer Geiger

Program Manager

I see and organize the world through systems. My hope is that by understanding the connections and gaps between systems, we can begin to design the solutions that will be most impactful to communities—understanding that they often are and should be driven by communities. I work to foster the I see and organize the world through systems. My hope is that by understanding the connections and gaps between systems, we can begin to design the solutions that will be most impactful to communities—understanding that they often are and should be driven by communities. I work to foster the partnerships and conversations that lead us to those solutions.

Sarah Blanco

Senior Program Manager

Highlighting individual and community voices, and pushing forward systemic change and reform is why I am committed to this work.

Taylor DeClerck

Program Manager

I believe criminal legal reform is imperative because of the current disparate impact on black and brown communities and the long-lasting impact it has on individuals.

Shawn Rogers

Senior Program Manager

I am involved in this work because I want to eliminate the harms inflicted by the criminal legal system while improving outcomes for people currently involved – or at risk of becoming involved – in it. I believe that the most effective approach to achieving these objectives is by implementing transformative, systems-level change.

Sheila McCarthy

Senior Program Manager

I believe macro-level work is critical in helping communities identify needs, design interventions, and implement strategies designed at improving the quality of life for all individuals within that community. Focusing on changing large scale systemic issues, ultimately builds stronger communities and addresses the unmet needs of the people living in them.

Colleen Gibbons Senior Program Manager

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

AJ Garcia Associate Director

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

Courtney Williams Senior Program Manager

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

Jarred Williams Senior Research Associate

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

Akdana Kamal Senior Program Manager

Alejandra Garcia Associate Director

Colleen Gibbons Senior Program Manager

I am a people person who operates in a systems mindset. I believe that by continuously challenging, reforming, and improving our criminal legal systems we help to create better paths forward for individuals, families, and communities.

Courtney Williams Senior Research Associate

I believe that through partnerships, education, and community engagement we can bring more empathetic and comprehensive approaches to achieve criminal justice reform.

Karen Otis Deputy Director

I believe in change and an individual’s ability to change and grow from their experiences. Change can happen at any time so I believe in unlimited second chances and opportunities.

Kelly Van Develde Associate Director

I work with the goal of contributing to a more just criminal legal system. I believe that through targeted, person-centered, and action-oriented work positive change can be created.

Monica Christofferson Director of Treatment Court Programs

Sarah Blanco Senior Program Manager

Justice only happens in the criminal justice system when it is rooted in person-centered, trauma-informed practices. Highlighting individual and community voices, and pushing forward systemic change and reform is why I stay involved in this work.

Sheila McCarthy Senior Program Manager

Spencer Geiger Program Manager

small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

Taylor DeClerck Program Manager

I believe criminal legal reform is imperative because of the current disparate impact on black and brown communities and the long-lasting impact it has on individuals.

Sarah Blanco Senior Program Manager

Center for Justice Innovation

The work of the Center for Justice Innovation (formerly Center for Court Innovation) touches all stages of the justice system, from arrest through reintegration into the community. Our primary long-term goal is to identify and resolve the challenges that bring people into the criminal and civil legal systems as early as possible. We do this in a number of ways, including investing resources in underserved communities, problem-solving side-by-side with populations affected by crime, and building programs that respond to offending and increase safety without imposing lasting harm on individuals or communities.