THE PROBLEM

Mass incarceration has become an epidemic in America. The United States makes up less than 5% of the world’s population yet houses 20% of the world’s prisoners.³ The United States owns the highest incarceration rate in the world with 698 out of every 100,000 individuals incarcerated.⁴ Georgia ranks first among all states with a correctional control rate of 5143 per 100,000 individuals. Out of 10.8 million Georgians, 4.2 million have a criminal record.⁵ 527,000 Georgians are incarcerated in various state prisons, local jails, federal prisons, youth detention centers, or on probation supervision.⁶ The Georgia Department of Corrections reports that 30% of adults and 65% of juveniles are reconvicted within three years of their release from a detention center.⁷ The Georgia Department of Corrections reported a 2021 budget of $1.2 billion of which $166 million was allocated to the Department of Community Supervision.⁸ Georgia has more individuals on probation than any other state. Individuals in Georgia spend three times as long on probation than individuals in the rest of the country.⁹ Technical violations account for 25% of all prison admissions in Georgia.¹⁰ These statistics are the direct result of a failing criminal justice system that continues to implement draconian prosecutorial methods when adjudicating misdemeanor and felony arrests that are directly related to poverty, substance abuse and or mental health.

The University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government conducted a study on traditional adjudication methods and found that individuals prosecuted in the state of Georgia cost taxpayers over $20,000 per individual in post-sentencing costs!¹¹ This figure does not reflect the taxpayer costs associated with conducting arrests or prosecuting individuals. Not only is traditional adjudication an ineffective use of taxpayer funds, it indefinitely perpetuates adverse results made evident by Georgia’s historically high recidivism rates.

Traditional adjudication creates a cycle of crime. Once a person is convicted, obtaining gainful employment becomes extremely difficult, and in some circumstances impossible. A conviction blocks access to federal student aid and housing resources which prevents individuals from pursuing higher education and often results in homelessness, or worse. The psychological effects of this type of alienation leads to desperation and hopelessness which forms the underlying cause for criminality.

In Georgia, starting in 2011, alternatives for traditional adjudication have been implemented on a limited basis and the results therefrom thoroughly studied. These alternatives are known as Accountability Courts. In 2017, the Council of Accountability Court Judges and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council partnered with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government to conduct an economic impact analysis of the 1,729 Georgia Accountability Court program graduates.

The study found that each graduate produced $22,129 in economic benefits to the state. That is a total of $38.2 million. In addition to the economic benefits, spending for Accountability Court participants saved taxpayers almost $5,000 per individual. Traditional adjudication costs taxpayers $20,230 per individual. Accountability Courts cost taxpayers $15,523 per individual. The report concluded that the recidivism rate for program graduates was at about 15% nationally.¹²

Despite taxpayer savings, economic benefits and reduced recidivism rates, Georgia’s Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget has slashed Accountability Court program funding in consecutive years.¹³

THE SOLUTION

RED’s restorative justice program is the solution to the problem stated above. RED is a privately funded Accountability Court styled program. However, RED’s restorative justice program is more
comprehensive than any of the Accountability Court programs the state of Georgia has installed in any of it’s 159 counties. RED does not depend on taxpayer funds to operate. RED’s cost per program participant averages out at approximately $5,000. RED’s recidivism rate is less than 10%.

Since 2015, RED matriculated 125 program participants and graduated 118 of them with less than 10 having reoffended. Why? What is different about RED that produces results the criminal justice system has never seen?

It is simple. RED’s restorative justice program provides educational resources, mentoring, and meaningful community experiences.

RED’s evidence-based curriculum focuses on rehabilitative and educational measures instead of the punitive sanctions imposed through traditional adjudication. RED creates a classroom atmosphere inside the courtroom and treats program participants as students rather than criminal defendants. Our program is structured to develop each participant’s social, civic, and financial literacy rates.

This is done through task-oriented learning, engaging workshops, and interactive modules that consist of various modalities for learning, interpreting, retaining, and re-applying the content of each subject matter.

Participants are matched with mentors on a one-to-one ratio.Mentors are assigned to their mentees during the third month of our year-long program and remain actively engaged through graduation. Mentor matches are made based on the results of our individual needs level of service intake assessment which was prepared by a double board-certified adult and child psychiatrist. The assessment includes an emotional intelligence evaluation. This procedure affords us the opportunity to develop an accurate profile on each program participant.

Public and private sector organizations partner with RED to foster participant development through meaningful community experiences. Each monthly module includes a relevant to the subject matter prosocial and pro-community outing for participants and their mentors.

THE PROGRAM

RED’s restorative justice program services individuals between the ages of 17 and 28. Below is a summary of our monthly modules.

RED’s evidence-based curriculum equips participants with the soft and hard skills necessary to leave the court system and reenter society as thriving members of their community. Our social literacy modules include emotional intelligence training that enhances our participant’s propensity for social mobility. Our civic literacy modules educate our participants on proper police-citizen encounters and voting procedures.

Our financial literacy modules equip our participants with skills in banking, budgeting, saving, investing, and retirement planning. Mentors provide participants with guidance and encouragement every step of the way.

Upon graduating, our participant’s criminal records are restricted (expunged) and their case files are sealed. Graduates are then referred to higher education institutions and or to the workforce.

At the completion of each annual cohort, RED hosts its annual flag football tournament fundraiser in which graduates and members from local law enforcement agencies take the field to tackle recidivism. The event is a one-day tournament with 12-teams competing to be crowned champions of RED’s cause. RED’s next annual flag football fundraiser tournament will be hosted in the home of the Atlanta Falcons – Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

By providing an educational and restorative approach to criminal justice, RED is creating positive social and fiscal outcomes. Our program not only reduces crime and recidivism, but it also frees up taxpayer money to reinvest in our communities. Restorative justice boosts our economy by cultivating more taxpaying, law-abiding citizens. No more self-perpetuating drain on our resources. The benefits are more than just short term. Over time, the benefits to our community include a measurable economic impact, reduced unemployment rates, and most importantly, increased safety in our neighborhoods.

WHY PARTNER WITH RED

Here are just a few ways partnering with RED can positively impact your organization:

• It will improve your overall perception as a socially responsible brand that gives back to the community.
• It can expose your organization to potential new clientele.
• It can provide opportunities to win over customers from competing brands: The 2015 Cone Communications/Ebiquity Global CSR Study reported that “90 percent of U.S. consumers say they would switch brands to one associated with a cause, given comparable price and quality.”
• Higher consumer willingness to pay: According to a 2014 Nielsen study, 55 percent of online consumers would pay more for product or service offerings when a company is associated with social impact.
• Higher employee satisfaction: The same 2014 Nielsen study cited that when deciding where to work, 67 percent of employees would rather work for an organization that was socially responsible.

Please fill out the form below and we will be in touch as soon as possible.
If you have any questions please contact us at partners@stoprecidivism.org.

¹Recidivism is defined as a person’s tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior, especially a relapse
into criminal behavior.
²In years 2019 and 2020, analytics confirmed that RED received 360k and 697k website click throughs.
³See, Institute for Criminal Policy Research, World Prison Population List (12th Edition)
⁴See, Prison Policy Initiative, State of Incarceration: Global Context 2018
⁵See, Georgia Justice Project, Criminal Records Approach
⁶See, Prison Policy Initiative, Correctional Control 2018: Incarceration and Supervision by State
⁷See, Report of the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform: February 2018
⁸See, Georgia Department of Corrections: Finance
⁹See, Pew Charitable Trusts 12/3/2020
¹⁰See, Georgia Department of Corrections
¹¹See, Carl Vinson Institute of Government University of Georgia: The Estimated Economic Impact and Benefits of Accountability Court Programs in Georgia
¹²See, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council
¹³See, Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget