Vera Institute of Justice

Overview

Proposal for a demonstration project to provide employment and related supportive services for selected persons arrested but not yet tried in the Borough of Manhattan. The project hopes to demonstrate that early diversion from the criminal process to employment and/or job training will combat recidivism; reduce court backlogs; reduce expenditures for prosecution, trial and incarceration; increase the supply of skilled labor; and provide a tax-paying, trained asset to the community in the form of a law-abiding employee, rather than a liability in the form of a prisoner.