Evaluating the Israeli Community Courts: Key Issues, Challenges and Lessons

Abstract

The last decade has seen the establishment of eight community courts (CCs) in Israel, representing a significant shift from the mainstream criminal justice approach. Inspired by the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, New York, the Israeli CCs reflect an understanding of the links between local communities, crime and rehabilitation. The authors have evaluated the CCs since their inauguration, first in a formative study and then in an evaluation study. The present article focuses on three research modules that were utilized in these studies: the process characterization, which was based on structured observations of court hearings during the formative study; the subjective experiences of court participants, which were collected via in-depth interviews with programme participants; and the recidivism module, which compared the repeat offending patterns of programme participants with those of mainstream court defendants. Rather than detailing the findings of these modules, the paper uses them as examples, offering an open discussion about the process of conducting such studies: the selection of research questions that go beyond the traditional question of repeat offending and their possible theoretical contribution; the methodological, logistical and ethical choices that are made and their underlying considerations; and the obstacles that researchers face en route.