A Practitioner’s Perspective on Realignment

Abstract

This article offers a practitioner’s perspective on California’s criminal justice Realignment. Drawing on my direct experience implementing Realignment as the chief probation officer in the city and county of San Francisco, I argue that the San Francisco case illustrates how decarceration can occur without compromising public safety, and I offer a set of lessons for practitioners and policy-makers about how to achieve decarceration despite local political, organizational, and cultural barriers. Specifically, I identify interagency collaboration, investment in community corrections and a commitment to alternatives to incarceration and community engagement with the families of both victims and offenders as key facilitators of decarceration at the local level. I urge observers not to dismiss these lessons as idiosyncratic to San Francisco’s unique locale. Rather, my experience has been that even San Francisco’s exceptionally hospitable local culture is not enough to successfully implement reform; structural arrangements that institutionalize the practical implementation of cultural commitments to reduce reliance on incarceration are required.