For the first time in 10 years, elected officials in New York City voted to give themselves a raise—an 18.2 percent increase. That number came as a recommendation from the Quadrennial Commission, for which CUNY ISLG conducted an independent analysis of affordability, comparable wages, and other cities to make sure the recommendations were rooted in data, not politics.

Last year, around 2,000 people entered and were released from NYC’s jails every month. Tens of thousands more were redirected to community programs. The breadth of these systems ask: How do public systems and services ensure responses to crime hold people accountable, without adding to cycles of incarceration? Restorative justice has been used to find these answers.