Goals of the Alternatives to Incarceration Project

Goals
  • Focus on safer, smarter alternatives to jail-especially for people who don't pose a serious public safety risk-and invest in services that help people get back on track.
  • Work to keep people out of the criminal legal system in the first place by addressing root causes like unmet needs, lack of services, and unequal treatment across communities.
  • Respond to mental health and substance use crisis with care-not jail-by sending the right professionals and offering appropriate places for help.
  • Create practical alternatives to booking and jail time for low-level offenses, especially non-violent drug and public conduct charges.
  • Expand community-based programs that allow people to remain in the community before trial and offer judges more options beside incarceration.
  • Help people successfully return to their communities after release by planning ahead and connecting them to housing, treatment, and support.
  • Provide proven, individualized services that reduce repeat offenses, meet basic needs, and help people build stable, healthy, and connected lives. 
Guiding Principles:
  • Make sure people have access to care and supportive services, offer services in culturally respectful ways, and work to prevent unfair differences in how groups are treated.
  • Work together across different agencies and include input from many voices, especially community members and people with lived experience and their families.
  • Ensure public services are easy to reach, located where they're needed the most, and available across the region.
  • Provide a wide range of services that can support the basic and complex needs of people involved in the criminal legal system.
  • Collect and share data among justice, health, and community partners to better understand people's needs, improve programs, and plan for the future.