JLUSA co-hosts “Municipal Courts and the Promise of Community Justice” convening at Rutgers University

JustLeadershipUSA® (JLUSA®) continues to build momentum toward a fairer and more equitable justice system by elevating the expertise of people most impacted by it. Last week, JLUSA leaders, alumni, and partners joined advocates and practitioners from across the country in Newark, New Jersey, at Rutgers University, for Municipal Courts and the Promise of Community Justice, a national gathering focused on transforming municipal courts into spaces for restoration, not punishment.

Over two days, 200 attendees discussed ways to change long-standing court practices, including fines and fees, warrants, and punitive processing, while reimagining how municipal courts can promote fairness, trust, and economic mobility for people and families navigating these systems.

Reforming [municipal court] systems is essential to building economic mobility and restoring trust in local justice processes.

JLUSA’s plenary, “Community Focus Group Insights,” featured Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Ronald Simpson-Bey, Policy Analyst Zach Ruppel, and Policy Administrative Coordinator Emuni Sanderson. They presented findings from community questionnaires, focus groups, and regional roundtables in Alabama, Arizona, and Ohio, highlighting how fines, fees, and uneven court structures often deepen harm and instability. They also shared where communities are already leading change, building models of fairness grounded in lived experience.

Joining the plenary were regional experts Danny Howe (LwC 2020), Tari Williams (LwC 2017), and Sheila Nared (LwC 2024); all Leading with Conviction™ alumni who brought their leadership and community insight to the conversation. Their contributions reflected how directly impacted leaders across the country are shaping reform rooted in both experience and accountability.

The JLUSA team outlined recommendations shaped by directly impacted voices: ensuring meaningful access to justice through clear legal information and ability-to-pay hearings, creating fair and flexible debt resolution options, integrating credible messengers to provide peer and financial support, and designing restorative supervision practices that balance accountability with opportunity. Each recommendation reinforces JLUSA’s founding belief that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, yet too often furthest from the resources and power to make change.

Following the plenary, Sanderson and Ruppel (LwC 2021) joined Stephanie Hicks, a member of the JustUS Coordinating Council, and Timothy Lanier (LwC 2022) to lead the breakout session “Authentic Engagement and Person-First Language.” The session explored how courts and community partners can center dignity and fairness in their work, emphasizing the importance of person-first language and authentic collaboration between those who design policies and those most affected by them.

On the second day, Simpson-Bey (LwC 2015) opened the conference with a reminder that grounded the room: “In this work, it’s not about permanent friends, it’s about elevating permanent interests.” His words spoke to the heart of JLUSA’s mission; building lasting relationships and collective leadership among people directly impacted by the legal system and those working across sectors to advance justice. The message reflected the power of unlikely allyship and the need for everyone at the table to move shared interests forward.

Municipal court debt and administrative barriers often shape a person’s ability to secure housing, maintain employment, or care for their family. Reforming these systems is essential to building economic mobility and restoring trust in local justice processes. When courts move toward ability-to-pay practices, credible messenger engagement, and restorative supervision, they replace punishment with progress and promote the conditions that make equity possible.

This convening built on JLUSA’s ongoing partnership with the Center for Justice Innovation and our shared commitment to ensure that people directly impacted by the criminal legal system are leading change. The lessons shared in Newark will guide future trainings, leadership programs, and community conversations as we continue to define what justice can look like when led by those closest to its impact.

Support for this convening was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.