[From Our Partners] Evaluations of the Misdemeanor Diversion Program in Durham County, North Carolina
In 2015, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation launched the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC), a multi-year initiative to reduce populations and racial disparities in American jails. To advance knowledge development grounded in a research agenda that explores, evaluates, and documents site-specific strategies to safely and effectively reduce jail populations and address racial and ethnic disparities, the Foundation engaged the Institute for State & Local Governance (ISLG) at the City University of New York (CUNY) to establish and oversee an SJC Research Consortium. Consortium members are nationally renowned research, policy, and academic organizations collaborating with SJC sites to contribute to and build an evidence base focused on pretrial reform efforts.
Arrest is a key pathway to jail and has been identified as a priority area for the SJC research agenda. As part of reform efforts, many SJC sites have implemented arrest diversion and/or deflection strategies to reduce their jail populations. In an effort to learn more about these deflection strategies and their effectiveness on both individual and systemic levels, ISLG funded the Urban Institute to conduct a process and impact evaluation of SJC Innovation Fund Site Durham County’s Misdemeanor Diversion Program (MDP). Urban released their most recent report in November 2021, An Impact Evaluation of the Misdemeanor Diversion Program in Durham County, North Carolina. An earlier report focusing on the program’s process was released in July 2021 (A Process Evaluation of the Misdemeanor Diversion Program in Durham County, North Carolina). A synthesis brief was also published to highlight findings from both components of the evaluation and outline policy implications of this type of front-door approach, particularly for young adults (A Summary of Two Evaluations of the Misdemeanor Diversion Program in Durham County, North Carolina).
Prior to 2019, North Carolina was one of the few states that charged 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. In 2013, key stakeholders in Durham County started the MDP to divert 16- and 17-year-olds from contact with the justice system. Over time, the program—which occurs both pre-arrest and pre-charge—now applies to people of all ages and allows law enforcement to divert people accused of committing first misdemeanor crime(s) to community-based services instead of citation and formal arrest. This program has also been replicated in other counties in North Carolina.
Over the course of 2020-2021, Urban conducted a process evaluation of the program through an in-depth review of materials and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders that initiated and implemented the program, as well as current and former MDP participants. The evaluation focused on understanding the planning and implementation of the MDP as well as the perceived impact and outcomes and suggestions for improvement. Findings suggest strong buy-in from law enforcement is key to ensuring diversion; it also suggests that support from local, key stakeholders like elected officials, is necessary to facilitate this local law enforcement buy-in. Further, inviting staff with critical community connections and a commitment to interrupting incarceration is critical to ensuring both participant satisfaction and reducing system involvement.
Over the same time period, Urban conducted an impact evaluation of the program through an in-depth examination of MDP data covering January 2012 to February 2020 collected from the State of North Carolina’s Administrative Office of the Courts, the misdemeanor diversion program, the Durham Police Department, and the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. The impact evaluation focused on:
assessing enrollment into the MDP;
completion rates from the MDP;
the impact the MDP had on new arrests, convictions, and jail admissions for program participants;
the impact the MDP had on disparity levels between different race and ethnicity, sex, and age demographic characteristics;
and the impact the MDP had on system-level arrests, convictions, and jail admissions.
Findings suggested that while the majority of people eligible for the MDP were not referred to the program, those who did participate in the program had a very high completion rate and lower rates of rearrests, convictions, or jail admissions than comparison groups after six months, one year, and two years. Findings also suggested reduced racial disparities for Black people. Recommendations included improving local law enforcement buy-in and awareness to increase enrollment rates and expanding eligibility requirements for the MDP.
See here for the Process Evaluation.