Throughout its history, CASES has found innovative solutions to problems in the justice system. In 1967, the Vera Institute of Justice founded the Court Employment Project to give judges sentencing options other than prison or probation for teen offenders. Similarly, the Community Service Sentencing Project was begun in 1979 to offer judgesan intermediate option for chronic misdemeanor adult offenders. Now a staple sentencing option nationwide, the Community Service Sentencing Project was the first in the nation to use community service as a justice system tool. The two projects were united under e CASES umbrella in 1989 and we have inherited their commitment to improving the justice system.

CASES continues to work with the justice system to solve complex problems. Our experience with the courts and our status as a direct service provider allow us to recognize issues as they emerge and find answers that work.

The Nathaniel Project and the Parole Restoration Project are two of our most recent innovations. According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in eight inmates in state prisons receive mental health counseling. For many individuals suffering from severe mental illness, jail is but one step in a cycle of imprisonment, release, relapse, and re-arrest. The Nathaniel Project seeks to interrupt this cycle by offering judges a sentencing option that addresses the illness itself by combining intensive case management and community-based treatment. It is the first program in New York City to offer a safe and humane alternative-to-incarceration for men and women with serious mental illness involved in the justice system.

The Parole Restoration Project responds to a similar justice system need. Technical parole violators with special needs are held in custody far longer than other technical parole violators (165 days on average, as opposed to 77 days). This additional time is not a consequence of greater wrong-doing, rather it is a reflection of the difficulty of finding appropriate treatment and services. By linking special needs violators with community-based treatment options, the Parole Restoration Project expedites this process. As a result, appropriate violators are returned to parole supervision, freeing up costly, needed jail space.

CASES has also responded to the disturbing increase in the proportion of girls entering the justice system by implementing a Girls Program for young women eligible for CASES' Court Employment Project. In 1960, girls made up only 11% of juvenile arrests; 26% of young people arrested nationwide were female in 1997. Not surprisingly, young women enter the court system in different ways - and with different needs - than young men. The Girls Program takes these differences into account, and ensures that the particular needs of young women involved in the system are met.

CASES' experience as a direct-service provider brought to light another emerging issue, the barriers to education faced by young people who have been in detention. Detained youth rarely return to their community schools. The reasons are myriad: sometimes young people are removed from school rolls upon arrest, school officials might oppose the offender's return to school, or time away from school may make it simply too hard to catch-up. To offer new solutions to this problem, CASES has partnered with the New York City Board of Education and other justice agencies to remove these barriers to education.