Center for Social Research

The CSR and FTAP

Recently, the city of Grand Rapids and the Center for Social Research have been working together to evaluate the effectiveness of the Fast Track Accountability Program.

FTAP is a diversion program for people charged with non-violent misdemeanors like shoplifting or vandalism; by admitting guilt, apologizing, paying some restitution to the victim, and working at least 20 hours of community service, those who have been charged can be diverted from the traditional criminal justice system and avoid having charges reflected on their permanent record.

This program centers on the idea of restorative justice: attempting to balance the needs of the offender, the victim, and the community. The current system treats crime as something committed against the state.  Restorative justice recognizes that crimes have victims, and believes that those victims should have a voice in proceedings. Instead of a court case ending with a “winner” and a “loser,” restorative justice engages both sides of a crime and works to find a mutually beneficial solution.

Restorative justice aims at assisting victims and healing community. Having more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in America does very little to restore losses to victims or bring communities together. Empowering victims to seek restitution instead of leaving the offenders with jail time leaves everyone better off, and the U.S. could cut back on the $68 billion that it spends on corrections every year.

In fact, America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, so the success of a program like this could have far-reaching effects. It could be that fewer people will have the specter of a conviction hanging over them as they go on with life and search for jobs, and fewer families will be left in need by an incarcerated parent. Add to that the possible benefits of growing trust in the criminal justice system and you’ll understand why many people are excited about FTAP.

On the other hand, there are significant risks and expenses associated with any such experiment, including the possibility that the program has unintended negative consequences on crime rates or for victims. The city wants to be sure that reforms are effective and efficient before committing to any long-term reform.

Calvin’s Joe Kuilema, assistant professor of Social Work, is the principal investigator for the evaluation. He is collaborating with interested faculty from Aquinas College and Grand Valley State University. The Grand Rapids Restorative Justice Initiative (RJI) is a key advocate for the program; RJI co-founder and former city commissioner David LaGrand spoke about the initiative at Calvin in November. The program and the evaluation are both funded by the city of Grand Rapids through a federal JAG grant and conducted within the 61st District Court. Mediation is provided by the Dispute Resolution Center of West Michigan.

To determine whether the program is successful, Professor Kuilema and the CSR are using surveys and interviews with victims and offenders in and out of the program. We’re investigating attitudes, efficacy, and costs. In particular, we’ll compare perceptions of authentic apologies, recidivism rates, and perceptions of justice between people who participated in FTAP and people who didn’t.

We’re in the data collection stage now. We’ll begin to produce evaluation results in late spring.

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