Keeping People Out of Jail Keeps People Out of Jail

Since 2015, Project Reset has diverted potential criminal cases to programs that change behaviors without imposing punishment or staining people's records with criminal convictions. Art classes, behavioral therapy, and restorative dialogue have made 16- and 17-year-olds in the program significantly less likely to commit new offenses, while 98% of those admitted to the program have completed it. Offered in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bronx, the program helped the Manhattan district attorney nearly cut in half the number of prosecutions of low-level misdemeanors and violations.

Drug courts can help some people with serious drug problems who face serious criminal charges, if such court programs are run carefully, based on evidence-based approaches. But, too often, such courts – which push criminal defendants into treatment as an alternative to incarceration – can do more harm than good. The proof of drug courts' effectiveness is mixed, and fairly thin. Thousands of such courts exist, based on widespread political support for an approach seen as less punitive. But many critics say the courts' track record overall is weak and their approach can be just another form of punishment.

Philadelphia has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, but with a $3.5 million McArthur Foundation grant the city has used several initiatives to change that. The efforts appear to be working, with the number of inmates falling by 12 percent over one year. Programs include getting addicts treatment instead of more jail time, working to release those who cannot afford bail ahead of a trial and making attorneys more available for those who want to seek early parole.

To keep low-level crime cases out of the court process, courts in Manhattan are allowing people to take workshops on overdose intervention, social resilience, or restorative justice instead. The aim is to provide early intervention in cases that will likely be dismissed, prevent potential collateral consequences of having a charge on record, and free up staff to focus on issues like violent crime.

When people experiencing homelessness in Mesa, Ariz. are charged with low-level offenses such as trespassing or public intoxication, they have the option to participate in community court to get their case dismissed if they agree to seek help from government programs and services. Participants are assigned a "navigator" to help them obtain required identification documents, search for housing, or apply for jobs, and more than 90% of those who graduated from community court in 2021 have not ended up back in the legal system.

The Wake County district attorney worked with criminal-justice reform groups to hold a "warrant clinic" where people could apply to void arrest warrants that could land them in jail, with all of the financial and social costs that come with that. About 45 of 160 applicants were approved in the process, which comes with multiple conditions limiting eligibility to people facing relatively minor charges who missed court dates or had similar reasons for getting named in a warrant. The organizers hope to continue the practice, which also saves the county money.

Since 2018, Judge Jason Lidyard of Rio Arriba County, N.M., has forged a new model for a drug court. Instead of demanding abstinence from drugs as the price to stay out of jail, Lidyard uses respect and personal relationships to seek a redefinition of success: making substance abuse less deadly and less socially crippling. Violating the court's requirements to get treatment results in more help, not jail. The less punitive approach seemed to reduce overdoses until a new fentanyl surge complicated the picture. Almost all of the people who've gone through the court have avoided new felony arrests.

Eagle County's two problem-solving courts put treatment ahead of punishment when addressing crimes committed by people with substance abuse problems. Originally set up as one court, they now function separately to address drunken driving and drugs and serve people "teetering on the edge of serious prison time" for repeat offenses. More than 90 percent of participants in 2020 maintained sobriety and more than 80 percent avoided new legal troubles. While the threat of punishment is used to win compliance with rules, prosecutors say they're more interested in permanently curing the underlying disease.

Kansas' only veterans treatment court started small, but it has proved the concept to Sedgwick County officials who want to copy its success. Veterans courts provide treatment in lieu of conviction and punishment for veterans charged generally with non-violent, less-serious offenses. The costs are much lower than for incarceration, with greater benefits to the defendants. National statistics show a 14% recidivism rate, much lower than for the criminal justice system overall. In Johnson County, 41 veterans have gone through the 18-month program; none have reoffended.

Since 2018, The Bail Project has turned $41 million in donated money into cash bail to free more than 15,500 people in dozens of cities from pretrial detention. The project grew out of the work of Bronx Defenders, which saw over a decade the people it bailed out nearly all showed up for court dates and most did not get into new trouble while out of jail. Now the Bail Project is expanding with new offices in four Southern states, a reflection of the region's high incarceration rates and racial disparities. In the campaign to end cash bail as a penalty for poverty, bail funds serve as a stopgap.