Mary Ellen Stitt

Kirk-Werner and Stitt will examine the operation and impact of programs that promise alternatives to criminal prosecution and punishment, including court-mandated mental and behavioral health and drug treatment, community service hours, and electronic monitoring. Despite the popularity of such programs, little is known about how they shape criminal legal processes or the daily lives of the millions of people assigned to them every year. Drawing on a novel combination of interview, ethnographic, and administrative data, Kirk-Werner and Stitt seek to uncover the largely hidden uses and impacts of these programs and illuminate a contemporary court landscape that bears little resemblance to that depicted in most media and social scientific accounts.