Often someone’s involvement in the criminal legal system is the result of underlying problems like poverty, mental illness, or substance use disorder. Arrest, jail, and prison don’t address these underlying problems, and as our friends at Michigan Liberation remind us, “You can’t get well in a cell.”
Many sessions in our learning community have focused on what actors outside the criminal legal system can do to prevent violence and incarceration such as alternative emergency response, community violence intervention, and restorative justice. For this series we look at ways people involved in the criminal legal system can divert or deflect cases and prevent jail time.
This session will feature the Wayne State University Center for Behavioral Health and Justice, introducing the Sequential Intercept Model to identify different opportunities to divert and deflect people from jail and prison. They will also share about the Stepping Up Initiative to reduce overincarceration of people with mental illness.
We’re also excited to welcome Street Democracy, whose team will discuss Street Court, a model providing defense counsel, social service case management, and a self-representation app to help individuals navigate the court system beyond Detroit’s jurisdiction.
Don’t miss this engaging discussion on how diversion programs!