Mapping Innovation

We work to promote the best of Britain’s innovative justice practice.
Kairos is a Coventry-based women's charity who have developed a womens justice support service for women who are in contact with the criminal justice system who are also subject to, or at risk of, sexual exploitation.
The Sunflower Women's Centre is the first and only women's centre in Plymouth. They offer a wrap-around service for women with a range of complex needs.
Eve’s Space is a women’s centre in Bolton that supports women who are at risk of offending or who have previously offended. The service aims to address the issues that put women at risk and help them to rebuild their lives.
The Y2A Hub is a multi-agency hub for all young people on probation in Newham, which offers a developmentally appropriate and maturity-informed approach, supporting young people to gradually become adults.
CFO Activity Hubs support individuals on licence or a community order to reintegrate into their local communities.
Cleveland Divert aims to divert individuals who have committed a first-time or low-level offence away from the criminal justice system by addressing the underlying causes of the offending behaviour.
Cranstoun’s West Midlands Arrest Referral Service aims to reduce the cycle of crime and substance use by assessing individuals who may be eligible for an alternative to custody.
This specialist court model employs a multi-agency approach to provide a more effective response to processing domestic abuse cases within the criminal justice system.
The Harm Reduction Unit enables criminal, health and social justice agencies to work together at a local level to manage the risks associated with stalking and domestic abuse and to support victims.
The unification of these schemes is the result of a commissioning partnership between statutory agencies in Wales, building upon the good practice developed during the schemes’ respective pilots.
Glasgow Alcohol Court was established in 2018 and seeks to reduce the rates of reoffending by supporting individuals who offend with their underlying alcohol issues.
C3 targets individuals who are engaged in prolific, non-violent adult residential burglary offending. Participants are given a deferred sentence and an intensive community sentence plan tailored to their individual needs.
The Glasgow Drug Court aims to reduce drug misuse and related offending. If accepted on the programme, participants must engage in drug treatment, regular drug testing, and court reviews to monitor progress.
The Edinburgh APSC is aimed at adult men with a pattern of low-level alcohol-related offending. They receive a community order incorporating addiction treatment, regular judicial reviews and support with additional needs.
The EAT programme is a police-led initiative in Wales that seeks to establish a multi-agency approach to tackling offending behaviour by identifying and supporting people who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences.
The Promoting Positive Relationships Programme is a non-adjudicated preventative group programme that was developed for men at risk of being abusive in intimate relationships.
The Aspire programme was set up to support young men who are marginalised from communities and at risk of becoming involved in criminal or paramilitary activity.
Aberdeen Problem-Solving Approach (PSA) seeks to reduce the use of short custodial sentences by providing disposals to women and young men with complex needs and multiple previous convictions.
The ECO is a community-based alternative to short sentences. With a focus on rehabilitation and desistence, the ECO involves interventions that address criminogenic needs.
Belfast SMC takes a problem-solving approach to help offenders with underlying substance misuse issues. Eligible offenders have their sentences deferred while they engage in an intensive treatment programme.
The WONDER project aims to divert women from police custody facilities and help them to access tailored support and address their needs through a multi-agency and collaborative approach.
The CSTR scheme aims to reduce reoffending by improving access to mental health and substance misuse treatment in the community through greater use of treatment requirements in community or suspended sentence orders.
The ICO is aimed at men aged 18-25 and offers an intensive community sentence to those who are at risk of a 12-month or less prison sentence and includes support for the individual's families.
These projects in Northamptonshire focus on providing mental health support to eligible women who would otherwise be facing a custodial sentence, and support to people who frequently call the police during crisis moments.
Compulsory sobriety tags were piloted in London, North Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire to try to tackle a variety of alcohol-related night crimes such as alcohol-fuelled assault. The tags have now been fully rolled out across the whole of England and Wales.
The Whole Systems Approach adopted in Sussex centres on a multi-agency approach to addressing the complex needs of women who are in contact with the justice system by supporting them to access relevant services.
Kent, Surrey & Sussex CRC has implemented a different strategy for supporting women who offend which recognises the complex needs of the women they work with and the need for trauma-informed intervention.
These projects seek to better address the needs of people affected by domestic and/or sexual violence by addressing four strategic pillars concerning VAWG and women in the wider community.
This scheme thuses GPS tagging to monitor the movements of individuals on prison and probation licence conditions in order to track the compliance of prolific offenders with their licence conditions.
The anti-stalking unit was set up to tackle stalking-related incidents and the clinics provide wrap-around support to victims and intervention work is done with perpetrators to prevent and minimise risk.

This map charts innovative projects happening across the UK’s justice systems. You can search and filter the projects to find things that are most interesting to you.

The Centre for Justice Innovation regularly engages with practitioners to find out what’s exciting them in the world of justice. We want to know what projects practitioners are running that they are most proud of and, just as importantly, the ones a few counties away that are inspiring them.

We are expanding the map so that it not only includes innovations in criminal justice, but also in public family law and the child welfare system. We are keen to hear from practitioners from across the UK about new and exciting initiatives that we can add in all areas. If you would like your work to be included, please get in touch

Before you get in touch, please be aware that in order to be included on our map we require that your project:

  • is led by, delivered in partnership or commissioned by a statutory agency;
  • can demonstrate improved outcomes. In criminal justice, this might be for victims or service-users, or in family justice, for parents and children.
  • is innovative! By that we mean, it is trying something new in your locality or for that particular target group.