Program Impact - Avenues for Justice

Measuring program effectiveness

For 45 years, AFJ has diverted thousands of young people ages 13–24 across New York City from a punitive criminal justice system to a community-based support program designed to help them avoid future crime and lead successful lives. In addition to our main program of on-going court advocacy, we provide our HIRE UP prevention programs for workforce training, education, and mentoring to ATI court-involved and formerly incarcerated participants and to young people at-risk of engaging in crime.

Determining best practices

In 2021, AFJ completed and copyrighted a best practices program document that outlines and analyzes key elements of how the AFJ model successfully reduces recidivism, to provide a guide for potential replication. We began working on a long-term follow-up study of AFJ participants to assess and track overall quality of life, effectiveness of our program and achievements in education and employment. This long-term study will continue among future graduates.

Recent Outcomes

Low Recidivism - Reconvictions

<7%

Within three years of enrollment, less than 7% of AFJ participants were reconvicted within New York State

Low Recidivism - Incarcerations

Just 6% of AFJ participants were incarcerated within three years of their enrollment in AFJ.

Court Outcomes for
January - December, 2023

71%

Most of the court outcomes were adjournments with deferred sentences. An AFJ participant’s court case can have multiple adjournments as the court and judge evaluate a participant’s progress with the program.

60%

Case adjourned

19%

Deferred sentence

Conditional discharge/ACD

Case dismissed

Adjudicated youth offender

Bail set

Sent to probation

Assigned to AFJ

<1%

Sent to prison

<1%

Plead

Want to join our HIRE UP program? Reach out to us!

Avenues for Justice’s HIRE UP program relies on corporate partners to train and employ our Participants. If you have a potential opportunity for one of our participants, or would like to learn more about our employment placement needs, please fill in the form below.

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