“Services Not Jail”
In a recent column, Rev. Alexander Sharp, who is Executive Director Emeritus for Protestants for the Common Good, calls for a “New Paradigm” for drug policy. The paradigm prioritizes treating the underlying cause of crime–e.g., poverty, homelessness, addiction, or abuse–over jailing the individual. PCG’s recent Robert B. Wilcox symposium, “Serving Our Communities: Alternatives to Incarceration,” Rev. Sharp brought together innovators in this increasingly popular approach, including representatives from Seattle, Milwaukee, and downstate Illinois.
(View the entire symposium on YouTube: Part I, Part II .)
We summarized some of these model approaches to justice in an earlier blog post:
- Representatives from Seattle discussed Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), which enables police officers to refer arrestees directly to treatment centers. This cuts down on case processing costs and reduces unhelpful (and potentially harmful) contacts with the justice system for residents suffering from mental illness and substance abuse problems.
- Saying “Safety and accountability don’t correspond with the number of people you prosecute or jail,” Milwaukee County, WI District Attorney John Chisolm described four components of his restorative justice approach: 1) Crisis Intervention Training, based upon Chicago’s lauded program, 2) Universal and validated screening of every single arrestee, 3) Flexible probation terms tailored to defendant needs, and 4) Reinvestment of cost savings in restorative programming.
- Finally, representatives Macon County Illinois discussed how their Adult Redeploy Illinois–aimed at providing treatment and education alternatives to incarceration–in a county that sends more people to prison than any other in Illinois.
Rev. Sharp’s column hones in on a major shortcoming of Chicago’s current approach to criminal justice policy: a lack of coordination.
The absence of such coordinated efforts leads to huge financial and human costs. In Cook County, many of those arrested for low level drug offenses, mostly poor, African American, or Hispanic, sit in Cook County jail for an average of 25 days, even though over 60 percent of their cases are dismissed.
Why? One reason is that the Cook County States Attorney has little incentive to hire the staff necessary for prompt reviews of felony drug cases. The bulk of the savings would benefit the budgets of other offices. Nor would the States Attorney receive much, if any public credit. Tell that to the parents of kids who will never get a job because of an arrest that probably should not have been on their record in the first place.
Recognizing that diversion is not only fair but also economical, Cook County Commissioners Earlene Collins and Larry Suffredin sponsored an ordinance creating the “Jail Diversion Program,” which the Board passed in March, 2010. The ordinance orders a diversion “Advisory Panel” to establish “a collaborative relationship between the State, the County, local municipalities and local community based mental health and substance abuse disorder service providers with emphasis on mutual goals, shared responsibilities and benefits.” With representatives from public safety agencies, mental health providers, and researchers, the panel would be similar to successful groups guiding crime strategy for many major American cities. But to date, the panel has not been convened.