Expand the use of alternatives to prison for non-violent crimes and divert people with mental health or substance abuse issues away from the criminal justice system altogether.

Expand the use of alternatives to prison for non-violent crimes and divert people with mental health or substance abuse issues away from the criminal justice system altogether. Policymakers should assess the range of sentencing alternatives available in their state, such as drug and mental health courts and related treatment, community correction centers, community service, sex offender treatment, and fines and victim restitution. Whenever possible, people whose crimes stem from addiction or mental illness should be diverted into treatment programs rather than sent to prison.Critical Analysis:2a) using Evaluative Criteria for judging each of the 3 policy options; don’t forget a description of three criteria (ex. outcome effectiveness, cost efficiency, political feasibility, social acceptability, and equity) applied to the policy analysis2b) the analysis should examine each option by an established criteria. The analysis should be conducted using scholarly sources (i.e., peer-reviewed articles; book chapters; federal, state, and local government evaluations, reports, and monographs; and/or think tank evaluations, reports, and monographs).