comes from a judge who could have thrown him in jail.That's the feeling of Molly Merrigan, a prosecutor in Kansas City and a daily witness to the success of Jackson County's drug court.The court, begun in 1993, substitutes drug treatment, job counseling and close supervision for jail ...
Jail-diversion programs typically have a very simple aim: to allow the offender to avoid confinement while awaiting trial. The benefits of avoiding confinement are considerable. A pretrial jail term, even if only a few weeks long, can mean loss of a job and disruption of family life and oth...