Programa LEAD demuestra ser exitoso
El programa de Derivación Asistida por las Fuerzas del Orden (LEAD) en Belltown ha reducido hasta en 60 por ciento las tasas de reincidencia criminal de las personas pobres, indigentes crónicos, vendedores de droga de poca monta, consumidores de drogas y trabajadores sexuales a quienes se orienta el programa. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.
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The plan’s architects hoped a new approach to dealing with low-level drug crimes would slow the number of people who repeatedly cycle through the criminal-justice system. They have new stats to back up their early suppositions.
A real-world experiment that’s played out on the streets of Belltown over the past three years is producing significant results by interrupting the cycle of arrest, prosecution and incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders.
The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program is working even better than its creators had hoped, reducing criminal-recidivism rates by up to 60 percent for the poor, chronically homeless, low-level drug dealers, users and prostituted people it was designed to help.
When LEAD was launched as a four-year pilot project in October 2011, no one knew if it would work, said Lisa Daugaard, policy director for the King County Public Defender Association, who worked with police and prosecutors to develop the innovative program that was unlike anything ever tried in the country.
Based on a harm-reduction model that drew from decades of public-health research, LEAD’s architects were hopeful a new approach to dealing with low-level drug crimes would slow the number of frequent fliers who repeatedly cycle through the criminal-justice system.
Now having stats to back up their early suppositions isn’t a total surprise, “but I think the degree of difference in outcomes exceeded even our expectations,” Daugaard said.
The results of a non-random, statistically controlled evaluation by the University of Washington, released Wednesday, show that LEAD is having a statistically significant impact in reducing the likelihood of new arrests for program participants.
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