Diversionary justice programs that avoid incarceration address systemic inequity and save taxpayers money, according to a March 11 article from the Brookings Institute.
Authors Howard Henderson and Mikayla Wallace found that imprisonment has little-to-no impact on the reduction of crime rates, and that outdated draconian sentences and mass incarceration should be viewed as a societal problem.
“The front-end of our justice system, where critical decisions by police, prosecutors, and judges shape lives, remains one of the most urgent yet neglected areas for reform,” the authors stated. Front-end interventions decrease incarceration and racial disparities in prisons. These programs create alternatives to incarceration in the first place, as opposed to highly popular reentry programs that focus on post-incarceration alternatives, according to Brookings.
The Brookings article explained that “the focus on post-prison reentry programs overlook(s) the critical structural problems earlier in the [justice] system.”
The authors also noted that even as the American justice system burns through $80 million annually on incarceration, advocates for reentry programs “remain stubbornly focused on reentry as their primary reform solution.”
The article called the reentry focus “tunnel vision” that reflects the heavily dominated tough-on-crime era of politics, explaining that “that era’s political doctrine… treated harsh punishment and mass incarceration as the ke answers to crime.”
Diversion programs such as San Francisco’s Interrupt, Predict, and Organize program, Houston’s Crisis Call Diversion Program, Indianapolis’s HIRE Program, Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program, and Milwaukee’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative have all demonstrated remarkable success across multiple intervention points, noted Brookings.
The diversionary approaches implemented by these programs include pre-arrest diversion, prosecutor-led interventions; pretrial diversions, paid employer apprenticeships, vocational training, mental health assistance, drug treatment, and job placement.
“Each of these approaches tackles problems at their onset, rather than waiting until prison gates close,” stated the article. Employment-focused diversion programs reduce recidivism and address the underlying economic instability that contributes to involvement with the justice system, the article said. In addition, diversion programs save tax payers billions of dollars in criminal justice costs.
“Critics might argue these comprehensive reforms are too ambitious or politically challenging, but the evidence for front-end reform transcends political ideology,” stated the article.
“[They] align with conservative values and fiscal responsibility and government efficiency while addressing progressive priorities of equity-centered justice,” added the authors.
The Brookings authors concluded that true reform must ensure equal justice at every step, from the first interaction with law enforcement through successful community reintegration.
