Evaluation of Pre-Trial Diversion Project, State of Alaska, Department of Law

Abstract

In February 1978 the Alaska Department of Law initiated a pilot pretrial intervention (PTI) project in Anchorage directed at first-time property offenders with no history of violence and no current drug or alcohol dependency. The project was aimed at reducing recidivism and costs to the criminal justice system, and included a built-in evaluation component. This report explores the PTI project's impact by (1) comparing PTI clients with other defendants; (2) investigating compliance of PTI clients with contracts to which they agree at time of program entry; (3) comparing costs of PTI compared with those generated in ordinary criminal cases; (4) evaluating the program's administration, identifying its deficiencies, and suggesting improvements; and (5) looking at recidivism rates of PTI clients.