Session: Decarceration through Criminal Court Diversion Programs and Progressive Prosecutors (Society for Social Work and Research 29th Annual Conference)

The symposium "Prosecution and Criminal Court Diversion" rigorously explores possible solutions to three important trends in United States social injustice: the explosive growth of US mass incarceration; increasing prosecution, conviction, and collateral consequences for more and more minor misdemeanor offenses (Kohler-Hausmann, 2018; Natapoff, 2018); and racial disparities in prosecution (Alexander, 2015).

Paper 1, entitled "Mediation for Misdemeanor Assault" examines prosecutor diversion of misdemeanor assault cases of community-based mediation and finds that use of mediation was not associated with lower recidivism, likely due to lapses in screening for intimate partner violence. Paper 2, entitled "Recidivism Outcomes among Participants in a Misdemeanor Deferred Prosecution Program" explores a low-touch misdemeanor diversion program, finding that it was associated with lower re-arrest, re-conviction, and re-conviction for felonies. Paper 3, entitled "What Happens to Imprisonment Rates When a Progressive Prosecutor is Elected?: Quasi-experiment Evidence from Cook County" found that the 2016 election of a progressive Chief Prosecutor in Chicago was associated with a reduction in the imprisonment rate overall, as well as for Black and White individuals, but not with a reduction in racial disparities in imprisonment rates.

All three are examples of social work studies using quasi-experimental comparison group designs comparing those receiving the new program or policy and those who did not, as recommended in evaluating changes in case treatment (Melnyk & Morrison-Beedy, 2012; Shadish et al., 2002; Thyer, 2012). Each also controls for a number of potentially confounding variables relevant to understanding the interventions' possible effectiveness or applicability to the broader movement for diversion and decarceration.

This 90-minute symposium will include an introduction and substantial discussion period facilitated by the discussant.--Abstract 15318 modified by 98.218.156.87 on 4-12-2024-->