NEW YORK – Recognizing that public safety cannot be achieved by law enforcement alone, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice successfully launched and operated some of the city’s most innovative and creative initiatives over the past four years.
Through strategic partnerships with city, state, and federal agencies — as well as neighborhood organizations and stakeholders across the field — MOCJ enhanced community safety and promoted fairness in the criminal legal system through hate crimes prevention, support for justice-impacted families with holistic services, the reduction of recidivism among high-risk repeat offenders, and more.
“We took office with a simple promise: to ‘Get Stuff Done,’ and, four years later, our administration can say we delivered that every day for working-class New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams. “We drove shootings to record lows and pushed jobs and small businesses to record highs. We rewrote the playbook on homelessness and mental health to finally get New Yorkers living on our streets the help they need, and, after decades of half-measures, passed historic housing legislation to turn New York into a ‘City of Yes.’ We overhauled the way our students learn to read and do math, cut the cost of child care, and forgave medical debt. We eliminated taxes for low-income families, launched free universal after-school programming, and expanded support services for court-involved youth through pathways to lasting stability. We got scaffolding off our buildings, trash bags off our streets, and opened up new public spaces for New Yorkers to enjoy. The haters may have doubted us, but the results are clear. On issue after issue, we brought common-sense leadership to create a safer, more affordable city, and our work has changed our city for the better; it will stand the test of time because we made New York City the best place to live and raise a family.”
“Every New Yorker deserves a criminal legal system grounded in fairness and opportunity,” said Deanna Logan, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. “Over the last four years, MOCJ confronted the root causes of crime and invested in communities historically impacted by violence. From expanding support services for court-involved youth to launching local initiatives that generate economic strength and promote inclusivity, our work creates pathways to lasting stability. Our achievements reflect our unwavering commitment to building safer, resilient neighborhoods and ensuring that every New Yorker has opportunities to thrive.”
Here’s how the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice put New Yorkers first:
Safer Communities
Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes
The Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) strengthens the city’s ability to prevent and respond to hate violence, discrimination, and bias. Through close collaboration with city agencies and community partners, OPHC expanded anti-hate and anti-bias programming in every borough this year. This included the HeARTwork Against Hate student art contest, now a traveling exhibit, as well as the inaugural Youth Ambassador Leadership Program (YALP) — both designed to uplift youth voices in combating hate, promote creative expression, and foster community healing and understanding.
Through strategic partnerships and signature initiatives like Partners Against the Hate (P.A.T.H.) Forward and Community Project Grants, OPHC engaged more than 21,000 New Yorkers, advancing the city’s efforts to educate in the face of bias incidents and systematically reduce hate crimes, strengthening safety across neighborhoods.
Since its 2023 launch, OPHC has supported Breaking Bread, Building Bonds, a community engagement effort convening over 15,000 New Yorkers citywide to learn about shared cultures and traditions over a warm meal. This year, OPHC introduced 7-on-7 Roosevelt Avenue — a Queens-based spin-off of Breaking Bread, Building Bonds — to connect communities along the 7-train line that often operate in silos. Spanning four major hubs, from Long Island City to Astoria and Jackson Heights to Flushing, the initiative highlights the borough’s diversity while fostering belonging and understanding across Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, and LGBTQ+ communities. Through its four initial events, engaging more than 700 participants, 7-on-7 has become a model for building cross-cultural solidarity and advancing OPHC’s mission of preventing hate through community unity-building.
OPHC continued to increase its visibility throughout 2025, a major element of the office’s strategy toward making New Yorkers feel safe and included. Recent coverage includes a broad mix of local legacy outlets and ethnic media, including WABC, WCBS, NY1, Gothamist, and Voice of South Asia.
Community Justice Reentry Network (CJRN)
The Community Justice Reentry Network (CJRN) helps lower recidivism and ensures people leaving jail have opportunities to pursue productive and stable lives. Launched in 2018, CJRN connects justice-impacted individuals and families with a citywide network of service providers that offer comprehensive support. Services include job training, employment, discharge planning, and therapeutic support. In fiscal year 2025, the CJRN completed:
- 4,165 discharge plans in NYC Department of Corrections custody;
- 4,257 intakes in community; and
- 1,459 job placements (703 permanent, 726 short-term).
With more than 17,000 successful intakes since 2021, CJRN ensures smooth transitions to community for thousands, remaining a key contributor to the city’s comprehensive approach to public safety, crime reduction, and decarceration.
Emergency Transitional Housing
Stable and secure housing is essential for justice-involved individuals reentering the community and helping them to build new foundations post-incarceration. MOCJ’s Emergency Transitional Housing (ETH) program provides immediate stability for New Yorkers in need, improves long-term outcomes for participants, and reduces burdens on other city services. Nearly 94% of ETH participants had no violent felony arrests while in transitional housing, and 90% had no felony rearrests in the year following successful program completion. ETH also provides resources for the justice-involved to secure permanent housing, as thousands have done through MOCJ and its nonprofit partners in the last four years.
Project Restore Bed-Stuy
MOCJ continues to build on its success with Project Restore Bed-Stuy (PRB), an innovative pilot program in Brooklyn moving gang-involved young men in Bedford-Stuyvesant away from gun violence. In partnership with the Kings County District Attorney, Columbia University’s Center for Justice, and nonprofit organizations Bridge Street Development and Inside Circle, PRB focuses on reducing gang violence, de-escalating conflict, and reducing court involvement.
PRB has seen unprecedented outcomes: among 30 participants, there were no arrests for gun violence involvement, incarceration, or acts of retaliation during the program. Former PRB participants from rival gangs also came together to co-create a Public Safety Working Group dedicated to supporting the Bed-Stuy community and addressing emerging issues, as the program enters its third year.
Abusive Partner Intervention Program (APIP)
APIP is a trauma-informed initiative designed to address and reduce intimate partner violence. Through structured educational programming, APIP supports individuals convicted of intimate partner violence across the criminal court system in understanding the dynamics and effects of their actions while developing healthy relationship skills — promoting prosocial, less abusive behaviors and reducing recidivism. Several other cities are now modeling programs after MOCJ’s APIP.
Supervised Release
MOCJ provides community-based supervision and support for people awaiting trial, offering an alternative to pretrial detention, regardless of charge severity. Launched in 2016 and expanded citywide in 2020, SRP reduces reliance on bail and jail by allowing individuals to remain safely in the community while navigating the court process. Over 33,000 individuals were enrolled in pre-trial supervision in fiscal year 2025, with an 86% successful court appearance rate.
Intensive Case Management
In 2024, MOCJ began Intensive Case Management (ICM), a randomized control trial to address high-needs individuals that are disproportionately represented in a small population of repeat offenders. MOCJ’s ICM pilot identified research-based strategies to reduce recidivism among the city’s highest-needs population. Since its inception in January 2024, the program provided more than 2,000 participants behavioral health treatment, producing double-digit drops in violent felony rearrests.
Participants also receive a suite of holistic resources, including medical specialists, housing specialists, and referrals to mental health programs, while maintaining strong compliance with court orders.
MOCJ’s research & development teams continue to identify new opportunities for lowering recidivism and improving compliance. ICM is a robust tool to direct people toward voluntary supportive services.
Alternatives to Incarceration
Since 2014, NYC courts have relied on Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) programs to deliver fairer outcomes for justice-involved people while safely reducing the city’s jail population. As court-mandated programs, ATIs offer participants holistic services as they await trial in their communities or as a disposition of criminal cases instead of a jail or prison sentence.
Since MOCJ’s ATI contracts began in 2021, 81% of participants who completed an ATI program were not rearrested for any new crime. ATI programs are also associated with a 32% reduction in violent felony rearrests in the year after participation, compared to the year prior — demonstrating their effectiveness in improving public safety.
Justice Reform: Equity & Efficiency
Coordination
In its role as the city’s criminal justice coordinator, MOCJ worked with indigent defense providers, the NYC Department of Correction, and the Office of Management and Budget to bring digital discovery platforms to Rikers Island and create an enhanced process for attorney visitation on Rikers through an electronic scheduling tool. Working with the offices of the district attorneys, Office of the Sheriff, Office of Court Administration, and the Office of Management and Budget, MOCJ also led an expansion of the city’s Electronic Monitoring Program.
MOCJ also worked with state and city stakeholders to mitigate delays and transfer challenges during and after the state prison’s 2025 wildcat strike, and established stronger partnerships with IDNYC and contracted service providers to facilitate the opportunity for court-involved individuals in New York City to obtain much-needed identification as they navigate re-entry.
Indigent Defense Legal Services
Indigent defense is essential to ensuring the city upholds the constitutional right to legal counsel. The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice contracts with legal service organizations to provide quality representation citywide, overseeing $528M in city and state funding to providers. To ensure these contracted partners receive timely compensation, MOCJ established a dedicated unit to process the contracts and payments while constantly working with the state Indigent Legal Services to streamline the process for all stakeholders.
Justice in Motion
This year, MOCJ hosted Justice in Motion, a diversion and reentry summit to showcase the city’s innovative work in lowering crime and incarceration – and to connect justice-involved job-seekers with potential employers. The event featured a symposium with expert speakers, a hiring hall tailored to justice-impacted New Yorkers, and an interactive simulation of the challenges of re-entering community after incarceration. Approximately 500 people gathered at the Nike Track & Field Center at The Armory in Washington Heights, producing:
- More than 1,300 jobseeker engagements
- 48 job offers made on-the-spot
- 95.7% jobseeker satisfaction
Court Efficiency
MOCJ built a next-generation, real-time citywide justice tracking program to identify gaps – and opportunities – in the system, creating efficiencies that are more quickly connecting New Yorkers with higher needs to services.
Project Reset
Project Reset is a diversion program that offers a second chance to individuals charged with non-violent, low-level offenses — often young people who receive desk appearance tickets — helping them avoid a criminal record that may limit future opportunities. In partnership with the Center for Justice Innovation, Project Reset helps thousands of New Yorkers resolve low-level cases quickly and fairly, with the majority never needing to appear in court.
In fiscal year 2025, Project Reset successfully diverted more than 5,200 people from court by offering alternatives to prosecution, ensuring accountability without disrupting lives or straining the court system. In addition to increased services on Rikers Island, Project Reset expanded the South Bronx Community Justice Center and extended eligibility for 511 charges in Staten Island, helping court-involved people pay fines and restore licenses.
Borough-Based Jails
MOCJ is a plan partner with the Department of Design and Construction overseeing implementation of the borough-based jails and continues to liaise with elected officials, communities and advocates regarding community impact.
Staten Island Family Court
MOCJ is helping increase capacity in — and accessibility to — Family Court. This includes renovations and facility expansions on Staten Island, which will also provide space for community use. Even with the facility’s expansion, the historic importance of the location will be preserved for future enjoyment.
Quality of Life Improvements
Office of Special Enforcement
The Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) leads the city’s work to address unregulated industries and conditions that undermine quality of life in our neighborhoods. Currently, the task force’s primary focus is protecting affordable housing through its enforcement of New York City’s short-term rental laws, protecting the city’s already-strained permanent housing market. Through the implementation of Local Law 18, OSE eliminated nearly all of the city’s 60,000+ illegal short-term rentals, paving the way for a majority of those units to return to the long-term rental market.
OSE also works to hold bad actors accountable, such as delinquent building owners. The office developed an in-house collection practice, generating $5 million in revenue for the city since 2021 and ensuring owners of non-compliant buildings face appropriate consequences.
Flip the Script
Flip the Script transforms court-involved youth into paid filmmakers and creative professionals through mentorship, healing-centered practices, and career development. As a city-funded media incubator for justice-impacted youth, Flip the Script addresses public safety challenges while expanding access to the creative economy for young people living in Brownsville, Brooklyn, one of the nation’s most underserved communities.
Through its first two years, the program achieved a 93% graduation rate, with no re-arrests among participants during the program. Nearly two dozen program participants with open felony cases successfully demonstrated to the court they were dedicated to positive life trajectories, receiving non-incarceration dispositions. Seventy percent of the first cohort secured employment, while 35% pursued higher education — demonstrating the power of creative expression in behavioral change.
Next Mile NYC: CDL Workforce Training Pilot
Launched with contracted partner Emerge Career in December 2024, Next Mile NYC is MOCJ’s commercial driver’s license (CDL) training pilot for formerly justice-involved New Yorkers. In just six months, the first cohort of 20 participants achieved:
- 100% certified licensing professional (CPL) confirmation, with all participants receiving pre-hire job offers;
- 90% CDL graduation rate; and
- 100% employment rate for graduates, with starting salaries ranging from $78,000 to $125,000.
By the end of their first year of employment, Next Mile NYC graduates are projected to generate more than $1.6 million in new wealth for their neighborhoods — strengthening communities and hyper-local economies across New York City.
Cannabis Reentry Employment Assistance & Training Experience (CREATE)
In partnership with NYC Small Business Services, MOCJ launched the CREATE program to provide apprenticeships in the newly legal cannabis industry to New Yorkers with previous marijuana arrests, helping to launch careers, promote financial stability, and break criminal cycles. Participants use their new retail skills to overcome the stigma of a criminal record, land jobs, and develop career skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
Every Block Counts
Every Block Counts (EBC) is a multi-agency public safety initiative that uses data to address crime and quality-of-life issues on high-needs residential blocks that account for some of the city’s highest crime levels. Through collaboration with several city agencies, EBC implements visible improvements on city streets, such as enhanced street lighting and regular sanitation services to strengthen neighborhood safety and livability.
Since its October 2024 launch in the NYPD’s 46th and 73rd precincts — two areas with the most shooting incidents over the previous five years — EBC achieved measurable outcomes, resolving a majority of quality-of-life and infrastructure complaints across the city, including overgrown trees, sidewalk hazards, illegal dumping, building code violations, and improved crosswalks for pedestrians. In just nine months, these areas saw 22% fewer crimes, 33% fewer shootings, and 60% fewer shooting victims.