An epic legal battle pays off for trafficked workers

Partners for Justice embeds trained "client advocates" inside public defenders' offices to address defendants' nonlegal needs (such as: housing, addiction treatment, and mental health services). This has demonstrably improved outcomes, including a nearly 50% increase in case dismissals or diversions in Delaware County and a fivefold increase in public service referrals across New Jersey pilot counties.

The lottery system for daily case assignments, implemented at Nepal's Supreme Court in December 2021 then adopted by High Courts and District Courts nationwide, has reduced opportunities for "bench shopping" and middlemen influence by removing the Chief Justice's sole discretion over cause lists.

The High Court Janakpurdham has implemented a multi-pronged court reform initiative that includes new help desks, SMS case alerts, LCD courtyard displays, online pleadings, virtual prison hearings, and community judicial dialogues. Altogether, this has reduced service seekers' dependence on middlemen, lowered costs for litigants and lawyers, and improved access to court information, particularly for elderly, low-literacy, and women visitors.

The Cheshire County Restorative Justice Program works to take low-level defendants, accused of things like shoplifting or alcohol violations out of court and into an alternative process, sparing them criminal records that would later weigh them down. The program’s goal is to push the legal system toward restorative justice, reimagining its traditional processes.

After watching a documentary film about women janitors getting assaulted during the night shift, janitors began to organize around a campaign called “Ya Basta — “Enough is Enough.” They began to protest for legislation that would protect them. A bill that would require supervisors to undergo sexual harassment training was sent to the floor, and janitors participated in a five day hunger strike calling for the governor to sign it. "Not just one or two, but thousands are behind me, speaking up. Maybe our world as immigrant women will change.”

A candidate for district attorney in Philadelphia is pushing to do away with cash bail entirely as other places have done, including Washington D.C., and New Jersey. Both of those places have seen their jail populations drop, and Philadelphia has taken some initial steps that reduce pre-trial populations in jail, but it faces a number of challenges in implementing no-cash bail. Those include getting widespread buy-in and a conservative legislature.

Public defenders' caseloads are too large for them to be able to provide the details that a loved one of an offender can provide in court. Participatory Defense programs train loved ones of the offender to be able to provide a testimony, often resulting in less severe sentences.

For first-time youth criminal offenders, the traditional American jury falls short in encouraging behavioral change and may even set the juvenile on a course for repeated crimes. Washington, DC’s Youth Court is a jury that tries juveniles for minor non-violent offenses and offers peer pressure to prompt positive behavioral change. The DC Youth Court is one of many in the United States that reduces crime and future court costs.

Under a structured parole system, since March 2024, Nepal's Federal Probation and Parole Board has released 2,993 prisoners early, successfully reintegrating offenders into society and easing prison overcrowding, with a violation rate of just 2.98%.

Volunteers with CourtWatch LA attend court sessions throughout the county to take notes on proceedings, which help to inform the Rate My Judge platform run by de-carceration nonprofit La Defensa. Watchdog groups like CourthWatch LA provide oversight on the criminalization of income and race in court, as Black and Latino residents are disproportionately effected by unjust rulings and treatment.