For years, behavioral health professionals, community advocates, and criminal justice leaders have faced challenges in decreasing the overrepresentation of people with behavioral health needs in the justice system.
.
Despite efforts to implement diversion opportunities and increase health care and treatment options, people with behavioral health needs still often cycle through the criminal justice system at great health, fiscal, and human costs. Local stakeholders and the broader public have not always understood the benefits of offering people pre-arrest and post-arrest diversion opportunities, especially amid concerns about increases in violent crimes throughout the country.
Because of this, many efforts to increase diversion opportunities in communities have stalled, even when there is evidence showing that diversion to treatment and relapse prevention planning reduce risks of recidivism for this population and increase public safety.
As leading public servants, prosecutors have the opportunity to change this narrative and to support more effective connections to community-based treatment and supports in their jurisdictions. They can also help change the status quo and move the criminal justice system toward more fair and just outcomes through their charging decisions, diversion offers, recommended sentences, and engagement with victims. Additionally, while connecting people to appropriate treatment improves public safety, these diversion efforts also reduce court backlogs, allowing prosecutors the ability to focus on cases involving more serious, violent crime.
Prosecutors can sign onto Propelling Change: A Prosecutor Call to Action to help address these concerns locally and nationwide.