This report describes findings from a quantitative analysis comparing outcomes for the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program participants versus system-as-usual control participants on shorter- and longer-term changes on recidivism outcomes, including arrests and criminal charges.
This document reports on a quantitative analysis project to compare outcomes for the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) Program, which was established in 2011 as a means of diverting those suspected of low-level drug and prostitution criminal activity to case management and other supportive services rather than jail and prosecution. LEAD’s primary goal is to reduce criminal recidivism. For this evaluation, the implementation phase of the project occurred from October 2011 through July 2014, at the Seattle Police Department (SPD), and included 318 adults suspected of criminal activity. The authors provide an overview of their research methodology, measures, data analysis plan, and primary analysis; and an in-depth discussion of the results, including arrest outcomes, charge outcomes, and a discussion of those findings in context of existing evaluations. Findings indicated positive effects of the LEAD program on reducing criminal recidivism over shorter and longer time frames. The authors suggest that the statistically significant reductions in arrests and felony charges for LEAD participants compared to control participants, indicated positive effects of the LEAD program on recidivism.