Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) Program Within-Subjects Changes on Housing, Employment, and Income/Benefits Outcomes and Associations With Recidivism

• Published in: Crime and delinquency Vol. 63; no. 4; pp. 429 - 445
• Main Authors: Clifasefi, Seema L., Lonczak, Heather S., Collins, Susan E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.04.2017; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Case management; Collaboration; Court hearings & proceedings; Diversion programs; Drug dealing; Drug offenders; Employment; Harm reduction; Homeless people; Housing; Imprisonment; Income; Law enforcement; Offenders; Offenses; Police; Prosecutions; Prostitution; Quality of life; Unemployment; United States > US; Seattle Washington; substance use; diversion; recidivism; policing; intervention; harm reduction
• ISSN: 0011-1287; 1552-387X
• DOI: 10.1177/0011128716687550

For repeat drug offenders, homelessness, unemployment, and lack of access to legitimate income and benefits are obstacles to community integration and quality-of-life improvement. Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a collaborative, prebooking diversion program that provides individuals suspected of low-level drug and prostitution offenses with legal assistance and harm reduction–oriented case management instead of prosecution and incarceration. We conducted this single-arm, within-subjects study to test changes in participants’ housing, employment, and income/benefits both prior and subsequent to their LEAD program referral. Findings indicated significant within-subjects improvements for LEAD participants (N = 176) across all outcomes of interest. Moreover, achieving housing and employment was associated with 17% and 33% fewer arrests during the follow-up, respectively.