We must do more to keep people out of court system
A recent Morning Call story seemed to suggest that Lehigh County is doing a strong job keeping people out of the court system. But the report the Call relied upon is misleading, because it is merely a survey of local officials, not an in-depth evidentiary study. It is not proof.
More must be done to keep citizens out of the court system and jails for petty crimes such as drug possession. Doing so will help low-level offenders — disproportionately poor, young people of color — avoid the stigma of conviction and trauma of incarceration, while saving huge sums of taxpayer dollars.
County Commissioner David Harrington reports that courts and corrections cost the county $70 million annually. With 4,486 criminal cases in 2019 — that’s over $15,000 per case.
Lehigh County’s practices in this area, known as “diversion,” need to be studied and updated to reflect new innovations. A self-reporting survey does not demonstrate success and can often be misleading.
For example, asked in the survey about “precharge” diversion, Lehigh County cited “MISA and Veterans’ Mentoring.” These are fine programs, but they are not “precharge” diversion; that is, diverting cases before they get to court. Lehigh County lacks “precharge” diversion, a practice employed to positive effect in jurisdictions nationwide.
This survey demonstrates the fundamental problem with virtually every aspect of our criminal justice system: There’s little or no evidencebased foundation for most of what we do.
To see genuine diversion, examine what Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub is doing. He runs two magisterial diversion programs that resolve cases in the local neighborhood courts.
Lehigh County has no such program. Weintraub expanded diversion, reducing county cases by 25%, 610 cases through District Court Diversion in 15-months.
Contrast the 768 drug possession misdemeanors in Lehigh County in 2019 that were not diverted, proceeding instead through the entire system, at great expense to the county and defendants.
Compare also Lehigh County’s refusal to use “precharge” diversion even for possession of a small amount of marijuana, despite ordinances passed by Allentown and Bethlehem to achieve such diversion.
Weintraub said disposing minor matters at the District Justice level allows district attorneys, public defenders, judges and others to focus
on violent crime, which is the top concern for citizens.
He’s energized the accelerated rehabilitative disposition program, permitting those with prior ARDs to resolve their cases at the district justice level. ARD in Lehigh County is constricted, rather than expanded. The Lehigh County District Attorney’s office has not increased the use of ARD for years.
Another strategy of diversion is to make an early decision not to prosecute at all. This could be accomplished at the arrest point, right at the police station. The Police-Assisted Diversion Program used in Philadelphia, for example, gives police officials the discretion to divert certain offenders away from the criminal system and towards social services.
Diversion can also be enhanced by
not prosecuting low-level crimes at all. Referred to as declination, there’s solid evidence that not prosecuting citizens in low-level cases reduces crime because it prevents the loss of jobs, interruption of education, delay of receiving substance abuse and mental health treatment, estrangement from family, and the scarlet letter of conviction.
Research indicates declining to prosecute reduces future crime and recidivism. A study supported by the Boston district attorney’s office found that those not prosecuted for low-level crimes “faced 65% fewer misdemeanor arrests over the next two years and 75% fewer felony arrests than those who were prosecuted.”
Another diversion tactic is the co-responder program Weintraub, the
Bucks County district attorney, helped start in Bensalem, replacing police by instead sending behavioral experts to calls for mental health, homelessness or substance abuse, a concept embraced by police as well. Bucks is expanding it to other municipalities.
Lehigh County needs a vibrant form of the concept. In 2019, the Cahoots Program in Oregon handled 24,000 calls and summoned police only 150 times, saving $22.5 million. It cost $2 million to run the program that year.
Lehigh County must perform an honest evaluation of all practices, including diversion. More and genuine diversion is desperately needed to reduce incarceration, support young offenders and save the hard-earned money of citizens.
Total transparency and genuine
assessment are indispensable for positive change. Evidence must light the path for that change.
As Maya Angelou taught us: “When we know better, we do better.” A self-serving survey is not evidence.
Surveys won’t help improve systems. Honest study will, and $70 million can help foster change we can all be proud of.
This op-ed is endorsed by Power-Lehigh Valley Committee to End Mass Incarceration, Pastor Gregory Edwards, Dan Falco, Sharon Finnegan, Susan Jordhamo, Lark N. Kurtz, the Ortiz
Ark Foundation, Oscar F. Ortiz, Jessica Lee Ortiz and Enid Santiago, Jennifer Swann, Maureen Simonetta, Robert Walden, Edith Ward, Ettore Angelo and SELF of the Lehigh Valley.