Personally I think there will always be people, call them the Jeffrey Dahmers, we have to cinfine because we have no way to trust they won't do unspeakable acts. That confinement can be humane & in line with our values. But it has to happen. We also stop confining nonviolent offenders.
In 2005 there was the Back on Track diversion program in San Francisco for nonviolent offenders that included an educational component. It dropped the recidivism rate from the 50% that the control group had to under 10%. I think that could become a model for the rest of the nation, as CA uses it.
To clarify, that program has since been incorporated into the broader state policy, what with the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Reentry. Back on Track was also piloted in Los Angeles as well as San Francisco.
For sure. I think everyone in this conversation is focused on the hardcore <10% (probably <1%) who could go through all the programs and have all the social supports and would still choose to hurt others. You can drive that number way way down but you'll never get it to zero.
Yeah, we will still need police, prisons, jails, judges, etc etc but we can make that system a lot less crowded if first time nonviolent offenders aren’t immediately thrown in the slammer. The other factor that makes this work is that crime tends to be a young person’s game, so if you can delay a-
potential crook for 4 years or so, having them get an education and doing community service, some percentage of them will mature enough to go “wow the payout for a life of crime is way less than the standard 9-5, I’m going to go legit”.
There's any number of kids out there who end up turning to crime because their environment quite literally does not include or provide any opportunities to make a living legitimately
That’s the beauty of the Back on Track diversion program, it might only be community college, but even an Associate’s degree can open doors. Plus if you do your general education at a community college you can usually transfer to a State University here in California.
More of this please and fewer cops 🙏
100%.