Human Rights

Reforming Civil and Criminal Justice Systems

In the Headlines

18 October 2011

Seattle’s Fresh Approach to Breaking the Cycle of Drug Addiction

The Seattle Times explores the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which offers poor and marginalized people who have problems with drugs the chance to improve their lives through access to education, employment and other opportunities. Currently running as a pilot in Seattle, the program—which is supported by Ford’s Reforming Civil and Criminal Justice Systems initiative—has “brought shared hope to those dealing with the ramifications of the country’s war on drugs.”

Published in The Seattle Times

Seattle program aims to break the habit of incarceration

October 13, 2011 By Sara Jean Green

Seven men were arrested for street-level drug crimes last month during a two-day buy-bust operation by Seattle police in Belltown.

Two of them caught a huge break.

Instead of being locked up, they were offered the first spots in a new program borne out of collective fatigue with the criminal-justice system’s approach to managing the low-level drug dealers, addicts and prostitutes who revolve through King County’s jails and courthouses.

The two men are now being given the chance to break the cycle of arrest and incarceration by signing on to a program aimed at changing their lives and, in a small way, the community.

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