As the criminal justice reform movement has progressed at the local and national levels, countless new models have emerged, many purporting to be “the” solution. The majority of these approaches are entrenched in either the court-based arena or the community-based arena. Community courts offer a different path forward. As Dixon and Dancig-Rosenberg describe in their article The Multi-Hatted Court: Community Courts as Boundary Organizations, these courts are distinct in that they intentionally straddle the line between the justice system and the community. They serve as bridge-builders, problem-solvers, and holders of duality. This position is at the very core of the model—not as an unintended consequence that must be shouldered or resolved, but as central to the model’s identity and strength. And within that model, the professionals who work in these spaces navigate that dual identity every day.
This Essay builds on Dixon and Dancig-Rosenberg’s insights by offering my firsthand reflections as one of those professionals, as a leader at the Center for Justice Innovation and as the former Project Director at the Red Hook Community Justice Center. As Dixon and Dancig-Rosenberg point out, community courts—and the larger community justice movement around them—do not live on one side or the other of the court–community paradigm. They are neither black nor white; rather, the work lives in the gray space in between.
Author
Amanda N. Berman is the Deputy Chief Program Officer of Court Reform at the Center for Justice Innovation, where she leads court and community-based initiatives that advance safety, healing, and racial equity. With over twenty years of experience in justice system reform, her work centers on building bridges across legal systems, communities, and stakeholders to reduce harm and create more effective, humane solutions. Previously, she directed the Red Hook Community Justice Center and held leadership roles at the Bronx Defenders and the Fortune Society. Berman is an adjunct professor at Cardozo School of Law and a Salzburg Global Fellow. She holds degrees from Brown University and NYU School of Law.