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Criminalizing Mental Illness, Part 2

Andrew Stelzer Sarah Shourd

January 14, 2021 |

KALW |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles County's Office of Diversion and Reentry has moved about 6,000 people out of jails and into programs providing mental health care, drug treatment, housing, and job training at a cost that is about one-fifth that of incarcerating people with mental illness. Like Eugene, Oregon's CAHOOTS program, ODR provides an alternative to the default model in the U.S. of incarcerating people with such health problems. L.A. County is now shifting as much as $500 million from policing to supportive services because programs like ODR and CAHOOTS fall far short of the actual need.

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Firefighter jobs difficult to find for women fire crew after prison

Catie Cheshire Sinead Hickey Miles Green

January 12, 2021 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Arizona

Arizona's Inmate Wildfire Program trains incarcerated people to fight wildfires, paying them low prison wages to provide a critically needed service as wildfires grow more common. Members of the only all-female crew, from Perryville Prison, tell of their pride of accomplishment in doing a dangerous job, and of the rehabilitative benefits of the program. They also describe their frustrations when regulations often bar them from using their skills after release from prison.

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How Genesee County wants to change criminal justice: A New Juvenile Justice Center

Amy Diaz

January 10, 2021 |

Flint Beat |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Flint, Michigan

A new Juvenile Justice Center that will focus on trauma-informed treatment of children rather than simply jailing them is still more than one year from completion. But, in the years leading to its opening, the county's family courts have cut in half the numbers of children held in detention by emphasizing rehabilitation programs over jail. Many of the services are based on the "Missouri Model" of juvenile justice, which has been shown to reduce incarceration and prevent crime through evidence-based approaches that are more therapeutic than punitive.

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'A chance to choose life': For some, drug courts break cycle of addiction and crime

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 09, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Keene, New Hampshire

Cheshire County Drug Court provides intensive drug addiction treatment, behavioral therapy, and other services to help people charged with crimes whose drug problems are their underlying problem. Since 2013, it has helped dozens of people avoid re-offending and put their lives on track. Like other drug courts, it is not suited to all circumstances and its coercive nature – jail is threatened for failure to follow the rules – has its critics. But graduates credit it with saving their lives. And it serves as a gateway to services that people might not otherwise have access to.

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An alternative to arrest? Police turn to diversion for petty crimes

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 07, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Prosecutors often make decisions about which criminal charges can be resolved by addressing underlying problems and holding people accountable for petty offenses without incarcerating them. Police-led diversion programs catch cases earlier in the criminal process. Various New Hampshire police departments and in neighboring Brattleboro, Vermont, use the approach in dozens of cases per year, sparing those people the burdens and shame of jail and conviction. The approach has been proven effective in Seattle’s LEAD program as a way to prevent rearrests and to make people's lives more stable.

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A felony could have ruined his life. This program gave him a second chance.

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 05, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Vermont

Vermont's decades-old court diversion program uses restorative justice practices to erase criminal records and give people charged with lower-level offenses a shot at being held accountable, and giving back, without incarceration and convictions. Expanded significantly after legislators in 2017 applied the program to more categories of cases, the program has helped more than 90,000 people and now is used in as many as one-third of all misdemeanor cases. The program saves the state money and appears to contribute to lower rates of re-offending.

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How Oregon's Radical Decriminalization of Drugs Was Inspired by Portugal

Roshan Abraham

January 05, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Portugal

After Portugal decriminalized hard drugs in 2001 to treat drug use as a health problem and not a crime, the country expanded treatment services that produced sharp drops in drug-overdose deaths and HIV infections. Its numbers of people incarcerated on drug charges also dropped by nearly half. The Drug Policy Alliance studied Portugal's approach and made a modified version of it the model for Oregon, where courts and prisons have been the gateway to the state's limited treatment services. Oregon voters approved decriminalization and a vast increase in treatment programs that will roll out in 2021.

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In Brattleboro, a new kind of police patrol pushes treatment, not jail

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 02, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Brattleboro, Vermont

Police officers paired with substance abuse counselors go onto Brattleboro's streets to offer no-strings-attached help to people using drugs. Without using arrests or other coercion, the Project CARE "recovery coaches" have connected dozens of people to rehab and other needed services since the program began in July 2018. Modeled on bigger, successful programs in Gloucester and Brockton, Massachusetts, CARE's effect on overdoses is unknown and the involvement of police is seen by some as a drawback. But the outreach has let the community know help is available for the asking – even from cops.

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Rebel eviction-enforcers are helping tenants stay in their homes

Gabbriel Schivone

January 01, 2021 |

High Country News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

Constables tasked with enforcing evictions in Arizona are taking a different approach during the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of forcing residents out and changing the locks, constables are delaying evictions to follow CDC guidelines and providing information to residents for local resources that can help instead. The results of their efforts have led to fewer evictions as well as the creation of the new role of behavioral health specialist, which will help vulnerable tenants access resources.

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Prosecutors try to keep people out of pandemic-clogged courts through diversion programs

Rebecca Rivas

December 30, 2020 |

Missouri Independent |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

Missouri legislators passed a law in 2019 clarifying that prosecutors can divert criminal cases to social services and healthcare agencies even before charges are filed. Small experiments that had been taking place in recent years suddenly grew in St. Louis County to help the courts focus only on serious cases during pandemic shutdowns. Now those innovations are spreading, as more drug cases and other low-level cases avoid the courts altogether. This eases the burden also on people, who in traditional drug courts still get arrested and face employment barriers even if their cases eventually get dropped.

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