NCJ Number
188872
Date Published
2001
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This report presents information and data on the activities and achievements of the Bronx District Attorney's Community Prosecution Project for the period July 1, 2000 through December 31, 2000.
Abstract
The Bronx District Attorney's Community Prosecution Project has three interrelated components and goals: enhancement of the Community Service Program (CSP), improvement in communication between community residents and the District Attorney's Office, and education of the community about the criminal justice system. Regarding enhancement of the CSP, the increase in staff and extension of office hours to evenings, weekends, and holidays enabled the CSP project director to continue to increase the number of community service providers, enabled staff to place more offenders, and improved the possibility of matching the defendant's offenses with community service assignments. Further, the upgrade of CSP's database system and the purchase of new computers resulted in enhanced reporting abilities. Regarding reaching out to community residents, procedural changes were made so as to increase the accountability to community members of assistant district attorneys attending community meetings. Educating the community about the criminal justice system is being achieved through the development and presentation of a series of programs with the local access cable television station, so as to provide information to a broad segment of the county's population and increase Bronx residents' knowledge about the criminal justice system. The quantitative data presented for this reporting period addressed the number of cases restored to the calendar for noncompliance, the number of offenders who reported to the CSP for placement, the number of defendants who reported to the assigned provider agency, the average time between sentencing and the offender's appearance at the provider agency, the average time between sentencing and reporting to the CSP, and reports back to community residents on the number of defendants sentenced to perform community service in their neighborhood.