ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the nature of diversion and community-based alternatives to standard prosecution and conviction. It discusses the sequential intercept model (SIM), a conceptual tool describing five points at which a justice-involved individual can be diverted to a rehabilitative alternative: Law enforcement/emergency services; booking/initial court hearings; jails/courts; reentry; and community corrections/community support. The SIM can be used to promote system change and relevant data collection. The justification for community-based alternatives to standard prosecution and incarceration is threefold: treatment needs, cost, and morality. The SIM was originally developed to describe the movement of justice-involved individuals with severe mental illness into the criminal justice system. The most frequently researched interventions for justice-involved individuals at Intercept 4 have been assertive community treatment (ACT), forensic intensive case management (ICM), and correctional reentry. ICM interventions for justice-involved individuals have been applied both during reentry and as part of subsequent community support.
