NYS Justice Center Annual Report 2025

2025 HIGHLIGHTS

Launched New Prevention Collaborative In 2025, the Justice Center launched a cross-functional Prevention Collaborative group that will aid in finding alternative strategies to prevent abuse and neglect. Using feedback directly from internal and external parties, the work of this group will promote: ¡ Increased partnerships with fellow State agencies, providers and families to ensure their feedback and needs are reflected in identifying priority topics and trends for prevention efforts. ¡ Decreased burden on providers by offering model policies, protocols and training programs they can easily implement. ¡ Increased knowledge and education for direct support workers on best practices in areas where abuse and neglect incidents are trending. ¡ Increased opportunities for the Justice Center to offer technical assistance and training to providers on best practices related to corrective action plan creation, implementation and follow-through.

Enhanced Focus on Workforce & Community Training In 2024, the Justice Center designed and launched a portfolio of free courses to educate first responders and law enforcement on respectful communications and investigative best practices for people with disabilities. The agency expanded its course offerings in 2025, offering new courses based on initial feedback.

VIEW OUR FULL PORTFOLIO

Promoted Process Improvements & Efficient Case Management In response to the growing need to reduce administrative burdens for providers, the Justice Center identified small-but-powerful ways to modify its work in 2025. The Justice Center implemented the following improvements to increase efficiencies for those who interact with the Justice Center throughout the lifecycle of a case. ¡ NEW REGION DOWNSTATE: Regional office locations are determined based on reporting volume within specific areas of the state. In 2025, the Justice Center opened a new region (including Richmond, New York, Bronx, and Kings counties) to better distribute the downstate caseload and improve response time downstate. ¡ NEW QUALITY MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD: This new dashboard was created specifically for State agencies to help identify when the Justice Center requires more information about an incident to move a case forward. This helps reduce delays in case processing. ¡ UPDATED WEBFORM STREAMLINES INCIDENT REPORTING: The Web Intake Reporting Form (Webform) used to submit incident reports electronically to the Justice Center was updated in response to feedback from providers. The changes improve user experience by more closely mirroring the agency’s live call center process and ensures more complete information is provided to the Justice Center for classification.

The agency also developed a new Trauma- Informed Investigator training for both internal and external staffs. The training explores what trauma is and how it impacts the mind and body in both primary and secondary trauma scenarios. The goal is to help training participants understand how their own personal trauma and the trauma of the victim or interview subject can alter the approach to an investigation.

TRAINING INFORMATION

Initiated Agency Strategic Planning Efforts As part of the strategic planning process, the Justice Center conducted statewide visits with providers under its jurisdiction to gather feedback on priority areas, reviewed input gathered from roundtables, and met with several New York State agencies to discuss opportunities for collaboration and improvement. The Justice Center also conducted regional listening sessions with direct care workers to get feedback directly from those who engage with people, families, providers, agencies, and Justice Center processes every day. This feedback, alongside the analysis of data from the past 10 years, helped the Justice Center team identify its strategic growth areas. The agency will release its strategic plan in 2026.

Pictured: Justice Center staff presenting at the Division of Criminal Justice Services Symposium