A criminal justice reform program that researchers say is preventing crimes, saving Kalamazoo taxpayers money and turning lives around is at risk of being cut. Community Corrections Director Ken Bobo says the local Cognitive Behavioral Treatment program is the largest in the State.
“When we introduced this in 2015, 2016. It was groundbreaking, yes absolutely. No other community in the state had been doing this to our level and had anything close to this success”
Research, done at Western Michigan University shows over half of the CBT program graduates, many of whom had multiple arrests, did not re-offend.
“With 800 graduates, you’re looking at 800 times six on the average. So you’re looking at close to five-thousand crimes in the last 3 to 4 years”
Bobo says they have run out of the money used to fund the restorative justice program, and unless he can convince the County Board to help pay for it, the program may have to be eliminated. County courts and the prosecutor support keeping the program.