ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATIONValerie HintonThere is no denying that mass incarceration devastates families and disproportionately affects those who are poor. When examining the crimes that bring individuals into the prison system, it becomes clear that there is often a pre-existing pattern of hardship, addiction, or mental illness in the offenders' lives. The children of incarcerated people are then victims of the withdrawal of those who care for them and of a system that poses more obstacles than one can imagine on the path to responsible reintegration. Sometimes those who are returned to the community are “worse off” after a period of confinement than when they arrived. For county jails, the problem of cost and recidivism is exacerbated by budgetary constraints and various state mandates. Due to the inability of incarceration to satisfy long-term criminal justice goals and the very high expenses associated with punishment, policymakers at different levels of government have sought to identify appropriate alternatives (Luna-Firebaugh, 2003, p.51-66). .I. Alternatives to incarceration give courts more options. For example, it is ridiculous that the majority of the growth in this country's prison population is due to people being incarcerated simply because they were caught using drugs. Much of the crime on our nation's streets is drug-related – crime that would largely disappear if the massive profits generated by drug criminalization were eliminated. You can reduce drug use more effectively and inexpensively through treatment rather than enforcement.A. Community Justice and Restorative Justice - Restorative justice is an alternative to traditional judicial treatment in that it seeks to involve offenders, victims and...... middle of paper...... offenders who were “in a worse situation”. Therefore, local criminal justice leaders are encouraged to evaluate their current correctional situation in terms of organizational dynamics (do key stakeholders support the initiative?), political culture (will new programs be supported?) and potential clientele (what type of offenders are targeted?) to identify the most appropriate program or approach. A common approach used by law enforcement agencies across the country to answer these questions and identify problems is the use of the SARA model. SARA involves: • Analyzing the social environment to identify problems; • Analyze the problem by collecting data or other relevant information; • Respond to the problem by developing and employing solutions; and, • Evaluating remedies to determine if they worked (Crow & Bales, 2006, p..129).