Courts and communities across the United States are implementing community court models that emphasize problem-solving, collaboration, and engagement to address social and economic factors contributing to repeated involvement in the justice system.
One method for evaluating these models is participatory action research (PAR), a problem-solving approach where residents and community organizations work as co-researchers alongside courts and trained researchers. Through PAR, both the questions courts ask and the findings they reach are grounded in the community’s own experience.
“When courts evaluate their own programs, they tend to ask questions they already know the answer to,” said Kelly Roberts Freeman, a National Center for State Courts (NCSC) principal court research associate. “PAR really changes that. It pushes us to ask questions the community thinks are worth asking and brings them into the process of exploring those questions. The answers and the collaboration itself can lead to more meaningful insights and improvements that directly benefit the community.”
NCSC recently completed a PAR project with Albany, Georgia, to evaluate the Albany Works! Community Court program. Albany Works! expands alternatives to traditional sentencing for traffic and misdemeanor offenses and connects individuals with community-based resources that address the root causes of repeated justice system involvement.
Working with community partners, program stakeholders, and residents, the project team developed a research approach and gathered findings grounded in local experience. The study, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, recommends person-centered improvements to strengthen outcomes for participants, including:
• Investing in staffing for proactive communication and participant follow-up
• Strengthening partnerships across housing, education, and health
• Sustaining an on-campus night court model to strengthen education and employment pathways
• Sharing program data and research findings to build visibility and trust
NCSC is currently working with Innovation for Justice (i4J) on the Legal Desert Problem-Solving project, a State Justice Institute-funded collaboration aimed at addressing the pressing issue of legal deserts in rural communities across the United States.
NCSC and i4J are working in partnership with three cohort courts located in legal deserts:
• Washington’s Pacific and Wahkiakum County Superior Court
• Michigan’s 32nd Circuit Court
• Nevada’s Elko County Courts
PAR will be used to develop solutions for the challenges posed by legal deserts in these rural communities and enhance access to justice for underserved populations. To date, NCSC and i4J have worked with the courts to identify community stakeholders, conduct interviews and surveys, and formalize solutions and strategies to address community-identified challenges. These solutions build on strengths and opportunities unique to each community. In the next phase, NCSC and i4J will work with the courts to develop implementation plans and provide technical assistance for implementation.
NCSC’s Strategic Agenda priorities include fostering community engagement and strategic partners, and encouraging more courts to convene justice system and community partners and explore collaborative solutions. To see how the PAR approach worked for Georgia’s Albany Works! program in the NCSC case study and research report online at www.ncsc.org/resources-courts/using-community-insights-strengthen-community-court-georgia.
One method for evaluating these models is participatory action research (PAR), a problem-solving approach where residents and community organizations work as co-researchers alongside courts and trained researchers. Through PAR, both the questions courts ask and the findings they reach are grounded in the community’s own experience.
“When courts evaluate their own programs, they tend to ask questions they already know the answer to,” said Kelly Roberts Freeman, a National Center for State Courts (NCSC) principal court research associate. “PAR really changes that. It pushes us to ask questions the community thinks are worth asking and brings them into the process of exploring those questions. The answers and the collaboration itself can lead to more meaningful insights and improvements that directly benefit the community.”
NCSC recently completed a PAR project with Albany, Georgia, to evaluate the Albany Works! Community Court program. Albany Works! expands alternatives to traditional sentencing for traffic and misdemeanor offenses and connects individuals with community-based resources that address the root causes of repeated justice system involvement.
Working with community partners, program stakeholders, and residents, the project team developed a research approach and gathered findings grounded in local experience. The study, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, recommends person-centered improvements to strengthen outcomes for participants, including:
• Investing in staffing for proactive communication and participant follow-up
• Strengthening partnerships across housing, education, and health
• Sustaining an on-campus night court model to strengthen education and employment pathways
• Sharing program data and research findings to build visibility and trust
NCSC is currently working with Innovation for Justice (i4J) on the Legal Desert Problem-Solving project, a State Justice Institute-funded collaboration aimed at addressing the pressing issue of legal deserts in rural communities across the United States.
NCSC and i4J are working in partnership with three cohort courts located in legal deserts:
• Washington’s Pacific and Wahkiakum County Superior Court
• Michigan’s 32nd Circuit Court
• Nevada’s Elko County Courts
PAR will be used to develop solutions for the challenges posed by legal deserts in these rural communities and enhance access to justice for underserved populations. To date, NCSC and i4J have worked with the courts to identify community stakeholders, conduct interviews and surveys, and formalize solutions and strategies to address community-identified challenges. These solutions build on strengths and opportunities unique to each community. In the next phase, NCSC and i4J will work with the courts to develop implementation plans and provide technical assistance for implementation.
NCSC’s Strategic Agenda priorities include fostering community engagement and strategic partners, and encouraging more courts to convene justice system and community partners and explore collaborative solutions. To see how the PAR approach worked for Georgia’s Albany Works! program in the NCSC case study and research report online at www.ncsc.org/resources-courts/using-community-insights-strengthen-community-court-georgia.
