Vera Institute of Justice

Overview

These two pamphlets discuss the Community Service Sentencing Project (CSSP). The c.1979 pamphlet was produced by Vera, the c.1996 pamphlet was created after CSSP was spun off from Vera in 1989 as part of the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES). CSSP was opened by Vera in 1979 to demonstrate that repeat petty thieves could be effectively punished without jail. Project staff screened defendants in the lower courts throughout New York City and, in appropriate cases, recommended 70 hours of unpaid labor on one of the Project's work crews. Few of the 1,800 offenders sentenced to the CSSP each year are employed; some are homeless; and at least half are drug addicted. Yet approximately 0% fulfill their community service obligations [from Vera's 35-year report].