Criminal Justice Reform

I can't be too specific just yet, but I'm involved in a project that could potentially have a big impact on how people think about law enforcement. Lots of people are recognizing that the fundamentally punitive nature of criminal justice is frequently counterproductive. Incarcerating people, giving them criminal records that make it very difficult for them to find employment, or get loans, and may even strip them of citizenship rights, is in most cases all harm and no benefit. The jails are full of people who are actually in need of substance use treatment, mental health treatment, marketable skills, housing, and other kinds of services. Many of their crimes are actually victimless, others happen because of their unmet needs.

 

Right now, people who commit relatively minor offenses are generally released on bail pending trial. There may be conditions associated with bail, such as obtaining substance use treatment or seeking employment. It may be difficult for people to comply with these conditions, because of lack of community resources, or even because they are in conflict with each other -- attending substance  use treatment may conflict with employment, for example. So people end up violating their conditions of bail and may get even less favorable treatment from prosecutors as a result. Sometimes people who do complete the conditions of bail get their charges dismissed, but that's purely at the discretion of prosecutors --  theoretically the judge but they usually do what prosecutors want. Criminal trials are actually quite rare and its prosecutorial discretion that decides people's fate, despite what you see on TV.

Pre-trial diversion is an entirely different way of responding to arrests for minor offenses. In this model, the judge will suspend the charges, and the judge and/or a pre-trial services unit will impose some conditions for release, then refer the person to a program that will work with the person to create a life skills development plan, provide case management to link them with or provide them with mandated services, and offer other services they may want voluntarily. If they meet the conditions, there charges will be dismissed and their record expunged. As far as the criminal justice system is concerned, it never happened.

Now, can I guarantee that this will result in less crime and fewer re-arrests than the conventional approach? No. It's an experiment. I believe it will but we need to prove it. The risk is not very high, however. We're talking about minor offenses, be it illicit drug possession and maybe small scale dealing, shoplifting, soliciting for prostitution, that sort of thing. It seems obvious to me that this  is a better approach, but people have profoundly stigmatizing attitudes about people who commit crimes and they don't have much in the way of  understanding or compassion, so politicians cave to demands to be "tough on crime." Well, it doesn't work.