Alternatives To Incarceration

The community policing philosophy encourages police to use a variety of proactive approaches to improving the health and safety of our communities, and for this reason, the COPS Office offers the field support on critical alternatives to incarceration: successful reentry and the use of treatment courts. Community policing officers play a very important role in building trust with returning citizens, and in supporting efforts to reduce recidivism rates, while treatment courts (veterans, drug and mental illness) can address the underlying root causes of some criminal behavior.

Monitoring Offenders on Conditional Release
Provides an overview of community supervision, the characteristics of offenders, monitoring strategies, and best practices in probation/parole-police partnerships

Promoting Partnerships between Police and Community Supervision Agencies
Identifies the benefits, challenges, and key elements of partnership for police and community supervision agencies

The Early Release of Prisoners and its Impact on Police Agencies and Communities in California
Offers the views of police leaders about how tomorrow's law enforcement agencies may need to assume a new leadership role in solving the problem of high recidivism among persons released from prisons

The Collaboration Toolkit for Law Enforcement: Effective Strategies to Partner with the Community
Designed to help law enforcement initiate partnerships within their communities to collaborate on solving crime problems at the neighborhood level

Crime Prevention Research Review No. 5: Effects of Correctional Boot-Camps on Offending
Summarizes the findings from a systematic review of the evidence on the effectiveness of correctional boot-camps and suggests that boot-camps are not an effective correctional approach

Effective Alternatives to Incarceration: Police Collaborations with Corrections and Communities
Examines the role of police in community-based alternatives to prison and highlights programs that are effective in dealing with crime, while keeping low-risk offenders in the community

Mapping for Community-Based Prisoner Reentry Efforts
Explores ways in which mapping can aid police responses to prisoner reentry

Prisoner Reentry and Community Policing
Discusses the potential organizational and community-level challenges to expanding law enforcement's role in reentry

NON-FEDERAL RESOURCES

The Justice Center
A resource of the Council of State Governments concerning criminal justice and the mentally ill

Justice for Vets
A division of the National Association of Drug Court professionals that helps communities bring together local, state and federal resources to directly serve veterans involved in the justice system due to substance abuse, mental illness, or trauma

National Drug Court Institute
Offers resources for Drug Courts, including information on Juvenile, DWI, and Tribal Courts

National Center for State Courts
Provides information for Mental Health Courts, including additional problem-solving courts such as Community Courts and Fathering Courts

"The Released"
A moving "must see" full-length video available for viewing from the Frontline website