The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion ( Lead ) Program Essay

Many offenders who are released from prison encounter many obstacles which hinder their progress towards community re-entry. On their own, many fail to secure employment, housing, or complete education or training programs. Without guidance or assistance many offenders return to crime to support themselves. Fortunately there are number of organizations that see the need for services to assist offenders on their path back into the community. One such organization that has proven to be successful is the Safer Foundation.

By the lack of rehabilitation programs in the state and federal prison systems, the chances of convicts releasing and returning back to prison increases rapidly. The lack of rehabilitation is one of the most leading causes to an offenders relapse or to a new crime that will be committed within 3 years from the offender’s release. A rehabilitation program

In the United States, each day approximately 1,600 adults are released from state and federal penitentiaries to reintegrate back into the community (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2013). Reentry programs have been created all over the nation to help offenders successfully transition from prison into society. Offenders are confronted with numerous obstacles when attempting to reintegrate back into society. Ninety-five percent of offenders are released to reintegrate back into the community (Davis, Bahr, & Ward, 2013). Upon release, ex-offenders realize that despite the fact that they are no longer incarcerated, they face many restrictions. The restorative justice development rose to address the disappointment of the criminal justice framework to manage victims, offenders, and communities in an integrated way. A core focus of this development has been to expand the role of the community in advocating changes that will avert the issues and conditions related with crime and the demand for a criminal justice intervention (Hass & Saxon, 2012).

The need for the Jail Diversion Program arises from the increasing number of mental health problems among the jail population in the United States. According to Bell, Decker, & Sullivan (2013), 64 percent of the adults incarcerated in the US prisons in

Wood discusses how this program is still successful without using too much money in three different points. She begins with the first point that many of the costs that would normally be payed for through state and local governments are no longer going to be payed for that way. Instead, Medicaid will be paying for it and covering all expenses of the program. Second, Wood claims, “recidivism reductions should allow jurisdictions to be confident in planning that they will reduce their justice system costs by adopting this approach.” Wood believes that the evidence of reduction in low level offenses and the financial aid they must be receiving from not having to pay for many offenders is enough to make up for the expenses of this new approach. Third, Wood believes that the attention this program will be getting from its amazing abilities to help the lives of so many struggling individuals will allow it to get even more funding. She stated, “Local jurisdictions may be willing to invest in this approach as a better strategy for improving public order and community health than the status quo offers.” Wood considers the probability of LEAD being even more funded because of proof that it has done so in the past. The city of Seattle, in response to high criminal rates on the streets, has already funded the expansion of LEAD. With that

Many would say, the greatest advantage of this system is that police presence is continuously felt and criminals tend to think twice before acting, as response time will be immediate. With the existence of this presence community relationships have shown to grow stronger and the citizens feel safer and more compelled to share information about criminal activity, which can help solidify information that is inputted into the system.

North Carolina is the only state that prosecute 16 and 17 year olds that is charged with criminal offenses in the criminal justice system. These criminal records can have severe collateral consequences especially for minorities. While having a grave fiscal impact on individuals, families and communities. Due to this, Durham County introduced a Misdemeanor Diversion program (MDP) which is a 90 day program that tries to avoid a first arrest for low-risk youth in Durham- County. The purpose of this program is to keep the youth out of the adult criminal system.

To address the increasing recidivism rate among offenders in the juvenile and adult criminal justice system, comprehensive restorative justice programs should expand to a much wider faction of the United States criminal justice system. Programs should be implemented on federal, state, and local levels to effectively and efficiently achieve this goal. The goals that should be strived for must be kept in mind so that adequate progress can be made and so that benchmarks will be met when required. Administrators must not let their restorative justice system fall behind to the point of no return, as many would argue that the current system of criminal justice has. This paper will focus on the requirements for proper management and administration of the proposed solution. The requirements include the skills needed for effective management of the proposal, identifying poor managerial skills and the ways to improve those skills, the necessity of benchmarks and milestones, and reasons that may delay proper implementation.

Ex-offenders face challenges at every level when reentering back into society. These handicaps come in many forms that involve the community in the transitioning process. It is critical to involve the neighborhood in establishing a natural guidance in the criminal justice process (Young and Taxman, 2002). Informal agents and the community should establish an inherent connection with the offender through Re-Entry Partnership Initiative (Young and Taxman, 2002). The Re-Entry Partnership Initiative was designed to assist those facing significant barriers due to former confinement or other circumstances as they re-enter the community and the workforce. This sense of accountability and ownership is a powerful advantage. The neighborhood involvement sends a

To examine current treatments, firstly, seeing the re-offenders rate is helpful. Although the re-offenders rate of juvenile offenders are not calculated nationally, according to 2010 Juvenile justice Outcome Evaluation Report (2010) by California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in California, State-level incarceration recidivism rate of minors released in fiscal year 2004 to 2005 is 56.5 percent. 56.5 percent of released juvenile offenders returned to incarceration within 3 years. Also 81.1 percent of minors leased in fiscal 2004 to 2005 were rearrested. 2012 Outcome Evaluation Report (2012) by CDCR shows 25.4 percent of juvenile offenders who released from Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) in 2007 to 2008 returned to Division of Adult institutions (DAI). From 2010 to 2012, the rate had decreased more than half. However, in 2010 to 2012, still one of every four juvenile offenders commit a crime again. The expectable recidivism rate can be considered as a large number. The higher

The new policy that was introduced in 2011 is the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program that allows police officers the opportunity to allow individuals who have committed small drug offenses or prostitution offenses to work with a case worker to create a unique service plan that will better their lives and reduce their criminal behavior. The three states, Washington, New Mexico, and New York, who have adopted this new drug policy are working together to introduce this change into other police departments. The case worker will provide many resources—food, living necessities, employment opportunities, and access to drug treatment programs, like a methadone program—to these individuals so that they have an opportunity to help improve

In modern America, a primary goal of the criminal justice system is to prevent crime as a means to protect and safeguard the rights of the general public. It is important to note that crime prevention consists of many objectives, including the deterrence and reduction of crime. Nowadays, a plethora of criminal justice agencies have worked to establish strategies, through the agency of public policy, to avert crime. Certainly, some tactics have proven to be more effective than others. In particular, early intervention is extremely efficient and effective in targeting distinct risk factors that may lead to felonious behavior. Therefore, the criminal justice system should principally operate through early intervention tactics because such programs

The goals of juvenile corrections are too deter, rehabilitate and reintegrate, prevent, punish and reattribute, as well as isolate and control youth offenders and offenses. Each different goal comes with its own challenges. The goal of deterrence has its limits; because rules and former sanctions, as well anti-criminal modeling and reinforcement are met with young rebellious minds. Traditional counseling and diversion which are integral aspects of community corrections can sometimes be ineffective, and studies have shown that sometimes a natural self intervention can take place as the youth grows older; resulting in the youth outgrowing delinquency.

of the time. They offer their insight on effective corrections and individualizing treatments based on predictors for crime and behavioral knowledge, as well as conclude that recidivism is reduced by rehabilitation.

Finally, literature on the juvenile justice system often focuses on program implementation and effectiveness at addressing rehabilitation, as well as diversion techniques within the system (Greenwood, 2008). This review audits these problems in detail and establishes them within the bigger struggle in the juvenile justice system to rehabilitate youth offenders.