CASES' alternative-to-incarceration programs promote public safety. Participants and judges alike understand that being mandated to a CASES program is not a get-out-of-jail free card. In the Community Service Sentencing Project, compliance is enforced by retired police officers. If participants fail to comply, members of our enforcement unit make home visits to persuade participants to complete their sentences. As a last resort, our enforcement officers obtain and execute arrest warrants, returning non-compliant offenders to the courts for re-sentencing. Likewise, Court Employment Project participants who do not comply with CASES' rules are returned to court by CASES and face a jail or prison term.

Tougher punishments, however, are not the only piece of public safety. With the individual attention and innovative services CASES provides, many of our participants can go on to lead productive, law-abiding lives. A recent study tracked a sample of Court Employment Project participants for two years and found that they were less likely to recidivate. The rate of conviction for new offenses was one-third lower than the rate of reconviction for comparable youths sentenced to jail.

At the same time, CASES strengthens the communities it serves. Each year, participants in the Community Service Sentencing Project provide more than 80,000 hours of labor to communities in need. This labor, provided at no cost, helps strengthen communities. Participants re-build gardens that residents tend. They paint walls for community centers short on funds. They prepare food packages for the hungry. Visible improvement of this sort builds intangible bonds in neighborhoods. As one community activist put it, "I know Vernon Avenue has been changed by our garden. That is what it's all about - people taking care of each other. We couldn't have done it without help from CASES."