Houston, Texas — In October 2014, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson partnered with local law enforcement to establish the First Chance Intervention Program, a rehabilitative diversion program for individuals with first-time, Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession offenses. Today, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy released a report examining the First Chance Intervention Program and the potential societal, systemic, and financial benefits that would come with expanding the program to other offenses.

In Second Chances: The Economic and Social Benefits of Expanding Drug Diversion Programs in Harris County, TCJC and the Baker Institute examine the failures in drug policy that have spurred reform efforts across the country, emphasize the need for continued policy reform in Harris County, and highlight how the First Chance Intervention Program was a successful first step towards a cheaper, safer, more effective drug policy. Second Chances then outlines opportunities to expand Harris County’s diversion programs beyond the successes of the First Chance Intervention Program and into other offenses, including low-level theft and drug possession arrests.

Read the rest of TCJC’s press release here.