Title
& Description
News Outlet
& Journalist
Date
& Location
MEDIA TYPE
& LENGTH
14 January 2021
Los Angeles County, California, United States
Podcast
Over 15 Minutes
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-fift...
10 January 2021
Flint, Michigan, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
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'...
26 November 2020
Tyler, Texas, United States
Text
Over 3000 Words
Crisis-intervention and de-escalation trainings for police were meant to reform the criminal justice system's handling of people suffering from mental illness. But a lack of rigorous standards in the training and use ...
23 November 2020
Mansfield, Ohio, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
The Richland County Community Alternative Center provides court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment in lieu of jail for people facing criminal charges related to their addiction. In 60-, 90-, or 120-day treatment terms...
5 September 2020
Oregon, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
As an alternative to traditional courts, community courts provide resources to those experiencing homelessness. Fines and jail time are often the punishment in traditional courts for those charged with trespassing or ...
25 August 2020
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
A nonprofit consulting firm, Prosecutor Impact, advances the cause of reducing incarceration and related reforms by helping reform-minded elected district attorneys confront one of the greatest obstacles to change: th...
16 June 2020
Bangor, Maine, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Bangor drug court in Maine has turned to the use of Zoom to keep in contact with program participants during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although meeting via video call can disguise some physical symptoms of drug use, this...
15 June 2020
Wagram, North Carolina, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
A former North Carolina prison has been reclaimed by the nonprofit Growing Change to teach sustainable farming to youth who otherwise might be doomed to their own prison terms without an effective intervention. The 9-...
4 June 2020
Alamosa, Colorado, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program in Alamosa, Colorado, gives police officers the option of sending people to substance abuse treatment rather than straight into the criminal justice system. Used i...
28 May 2020
Alamosa, Colorado, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Alamosa, Colorado has lowered its jail population and the number of felony cases and arrests, and has broken the cycle of repeat offending, by diverting people with drug problems from prosecution into treatment. The l...
1 May 2020
Batesville, Indiana, United States
Text
Over 3000 Words
To close a gap in drug treatment that often denies help to people who end up jailed, a hospital employee schooled in the strong evidence of effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment cobbled together a program usi...
27 April 2020
Texas, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
Specialty dockets are used in some states to provide extensive follow-up and supervision to help juveniles end gang affiliations. The enhanced supervision usually includes a curfew, frequent unannounced home visits, r...
6 March 2020
Oakland, California, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
Deanna Van Buren and her nonprofit firm Designing Justice/Designing Spaces use architecture to advance social justice and criminal-justice-reform ideas, designing workplaces, meeting places, and homes nationwide found...
25 February 2020
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Over the past 14 years, the city of Chicago has been running a Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC) to help divert youth away from the criminal justice system. The goal of the program, which took a $5 milli...
10 February 2020
Connecticut, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Since 2007, Connecticut has taken major steps in juvenile justice reform – namely, the ages that youth are arrested or charged as adults. By moving 16 and 17 year olds out of the adult system and into the juvenile jus...
8 January 2020
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Multi-Media
800-1500 Words
Philadelphia has made a concerted effort toward reducing the number of youth being arrested in schools. Leadership, including the school police commissioner and district attorney, changed procedures so that youth, ins...
31 December 2019
Washington, United States
Text
Over 3000 Words
Drug companies that market long-lasting psychiatric drugs have found new clientele in courtrooms and prisons, as a means to treat mental health issues for those that have been incarcerated. Although the practice of ta...
17 December 2019
Columbia, Missouri, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
In Boone County, Missouri the Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy (HEAT) program offers young men an alternative to incarceration for drug-related offenses. The program works primarily with black men, many...
The Guardian
Senay Boztas
12 December 2019
Netherlands
Text
800-1500 Words
Providing care to individuals with psychiatric problems reduces the need for incarceration. With the help of a psychological rehabilitation program known as TBS, the Netherlands has shut entire prisons following a dec...
30 October 2019
District of Columbia, Washington, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
In such a divided country, many groups from lawmakers to advocacy groups are finding rare bipartisan cooperation around the issue of criminal justice reform. Two congressional representatives, one Republican and one D...
24 October 2019
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
In her first two and a half years in office as Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx lived up to her campaign pledge to prosecute fewer low-level crimes, divert drug cases to treatment, and focus more on gun violence. An...
24 October 2019
New York, New York, United States
Podcast
Over 15 Minutes
Prosecutors in Brooklyn and Bronx divert some violent crime cases away from traditional courts to a program called Common Justice, which gives victims a greater say in the outcome – an outcome chosen by 9 out of 10 vi...
26 September 2019
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Multi-Media
3-5 Minutes
Merging accountability with treatment promotes recovery for those charged with drug possession. In Franklin County, Ohio, the municipal court system operates a program called Helping Achieve Recovery Together. The cou...
16 September 2019
Alamosa, Colorado, United States
Podcast
Over 15 Minutes
Two southern Colorado counties responded differently when drug abuse, poverty, and mental illness contributed to overcrowding in their old, decrepit jails. Pueblo County's sheriff has gone to voters three times seekin...
16 September 2019
New York, New York, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
New York has taken great strides in reforming their juvenile justice system, and key to that has been ensuring that those in the system receive ongoing support once they return to their communities. Organizations like...
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