Alternatives to Arrest, Prosecution, and Incarceration

For decades the U.S. has prioritized punitive, reactive tools for establishing community safety and order. The result is an overgrown criminal justice system, fraught with racial and economic bias, that takes on a host of social woes it cannot resolve effectively, much less humanely. 

In order to right-size the criminal justice system’s role in American life and upend its deep-rooted inequities, we must invest in determinants of community safety (affordable housing and quality schools, for example). But we also need alternative systems for dealing with troubling situations and transgressive behavior—systems that offer rehabilitative care along with accountability. The models exist. What remains is to robustly fund and scale them for real impact.  

LISC Safety & Justice studies, advises, and supports a variety of promising alternatives to arrest and incarceration, including: 

• Nontraditional police activities. These include “problem-oriented” community policing, where officers interact with residents proactively and are tasked with identifying and collaboratively addressing root problems that may feed local crime. They also involve special, non-arrest approaches to vulnerable populations such as those experiencing homelessness or engaged in sex work.  
• Partnered crisis response. In a growing number of communities, social workers or other trained community outreach workers respond with police to certain types of calls, or in some cases as independent crisis intervention teams. In Providence, RI, for example, “Go Teams” allow a social worker to accompany an officer to traumatic scenes, where the clinician can care for children and other witnesses and victims, and follow up to connect people with needed supports and services. In Dayton, OH, teams made up of police, EMTs, and peer recovery supporters call on recent overdose survivors to offer encouragement and recovery resources. Many integrated-response models are designed to address mental-health crises. 
• Diversion from prosecution and incarceration. A recent survey of 220 prosecutors offices found that 55 percent lead some type of diversion program, allowing certain arrestees to complete community service, drug treatment, or counseling as an alternative to criminal processing. In addition, every state offers a variety of “problem-solving courts,” specialized dockets that deal with offenses related to drugs and addiction, homelessness, truancy, mental illness, or other issues. Here, a judge typically works with service-provider teams to create a plan for treatment and rehabilitation, with an overall goal of reducing recidivism.