Court Reform is Cost Reform
New Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle initially called for budget cuts of up to 21 percent, to combat a budget deficit of nearly 500 million dollars. In the last weeks of 2010, the Board president was still waiting for ideas from the Sheriff’s Office, the State’s Attorney, and the Clerk of the Court to find ways to cut the budget by the more modest, but still substantial, 16 percent.
For the last year, Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice has been working with the State’s Attorney, Sheriff and Court administration—as well as other Cook County agencies—on a Diversion Court program which is projected to provide meaningful financial benefits to the Criminal Court and related agencies.
The Diversion Court proposal seeks to transform the Criminal Division into a more efficient process. If the criminal justice system can identify defendants and arrestees who need drug, mental health and other non-traditional services, it can divert them into appropriate treatment programs prior to commencement of their case. This approach better utilizes our courts to coordinate existing services, to add more treatment services to the remedies available to Cook County judges, and to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of both the programs and the new approach linking defendants with these programs. The Diversion Court is intended to handle nonviolent defendants, with fewer than three prior arrests, who meet other eligibility requirement. Diverting these arrestees out of the traditional courtroom allows courts to focus better on more serious cases and can reduce costs in the court system.
Chicago Appleseed’s prior research indicates that the estimated baseline cost of processing a diversion eligible felony in Cook County through the traditional court process is $6,550 per arestee. This cost represents the costs of the State’s Attorney, County Clerk, Sheriff’s Office and other agencies through the felony adjudication process. Under the Diversion Court proposal, the estimated cost to process a diversion eligible case through a diversion court is $4,700 per case, a savings of $1,850. This cost savings comes primarily through a reduction in the number of days that the defendant spends in jail, partially offset by an increase in the number of court appearances and the cost of treatment services. If only half of the eligible diversion court defendants accept diversion and pass initial screening, Cook County stands to save nearly $7.5 million in felony processing costs per year.
Beyond these savings, there are cost savings associated with improved outcome results like higher employment rates and reduced recidivism. The Court, too, would benefit from improved caseloads and better outcomes.