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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:03 pm
Time: 10:03 pm
Results for alternatives to incarceration (chicago)
1 results foundAuthor: Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice Title: Strategies to Enhance and Coordinate Cook County Diversion Programs Summary: This document proposes strategies for Cook County to employ a smarter, more effective, cost efficient system of administering justice for the people. These are neither radical ideas nor unrealistic aspirations. Every recommendation is based on the documented successes of other jurisdictions in grappling with the issues that we address: how do we make our criminal justice system more efficient, decrease government costs, and improve the quality of life for the citizens of Cook County? Improving the criminal justice system in Cook County is not as difficult as it may appear. Making the system more efficient need not come at the cost of decreasing services or reducing public safety. To the contrary, the strategies proposed will decrease crime rates while increasing cost savings. There is plenty of opportunity for diversion. This is because Cook County expends tremendous resources sending people to jail on charges that are later dismissed. Other offenders are put on probation and released after spending time in jail. The County does not benefit from paying the jail costs in these cases, and jailing these people does not make the County safer. Nonviolent cases and cases with a low likelihood of successful prosecution present ideal opportunities for diversion. In 2010, the Cook County Jail admitted 78,534 individuals, seventy percent of whom – 55,000 people – were held on the basis of nonviolent charges. Also in 2010, 12,446 Cook County prisoners were released because the charges against them were dismissed entirely. On average, these detainees spent 25 days in jail before release. The County estimates the total cost of operating the jail to be $229,449,000 per year. This breaks down to a cost of about $142.60 per inmate per day. Even if we just improve the system so that we jail 10% fewer of the defendants whose cases are ultimately dismissed, we save the County over $4,000,000 a year. And we think that Cook County can do better than a 10% improvement. Not diverting is no longer an option. Our institutions and justice personnel are stretched beyond their limits. In order to allow them to address the most serious and strongest cases, we must divert nonviolent and weak cases. To reduce reliance upon incarceration safely and cost-effectively, we offer the following strategies, divided into three categories: 1. Centralize & Coordinate Diversion Court Efforts We suggest that the existing diversion courts, also known as specialty courts, remain in place. The County should convene a blue ribbon task force, a coalition, to help create a diversion system and centralize these diversion efforts in two dedicated courtrooms in the Criminal Division. Judges and staff would focus on the issues that overburden the criminal justice system: people suffering from addiction and mental health problems. These courts would also handle cases of many first time offenders who are suitable to be diverted from the traditional court system. 2. Improve Access Points We recommend three key stages after arrest where defendants may be identified for formal diversion programs and recommended for release from jail: Stationhouse Felony Drug Review, Enhanced Pretrial Services, and Bond Court. These stages are opportunities to improve the administration of justice and create savings. We propose strategies for limiting involvement in the criminal justice system through optimizing efficiency at each stage. 3. Collect Data on Performance and Use It Perhaps the most common sense strategy is that the County should be collecting data on program performance and using that data to monitor and evaluate progress. Currently, data is collected piecemeal, and often only by the people responsible for program management: not surprisingly, each program reports excellent performance. We suggest that the County create an independent data collection group to ensure that the County is using methods that objectively analyze performance. The real question is: if we are not using objectively collected data to gauge performance now, do we even know how we are doing? Details: Chicago: Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, 2012. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2012 at: http://chicagoappleseed.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/chicago-appleseed-diversion-strategies-for-cook-county1.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://chicagoappleseed.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/chicago-appleseed-diversion-strategies-for-cook-county1.pdf Shelf Number: 125906 Keywords: Alternatives to Incarceration (Chicago)Costs of Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice ReformCriminal Justice SystemsDiversion |