Improving Criminal Justice Outcomes Using Digital Tools and the Sequential Intercept Model
May 2, 2025
Navigating the complexities of the criminal justice system poses significant challenges for individuals dealing with mental health and substance use disorders (SUD). As these individuals interact with multiple interconnected agencies, they often face unique obstacles that can lead to discriminatory treatment, harsher penalties, and an increased risk of suicide and harm. Digital tools can play a crucial role in supporting key interventions at all intercept points within the justice system.
By enhancing communication and coordination among agencies and providing timely resources, these tools help facilitate smoother transitions and better outcomes for those in need. The Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) provides a framework that helps communities understand how these populations encounter the criminal justice system, revealing six key “intercept points” for diversion toward treatment and support rather than further legal entanglement.
The SIM’s Six Intercept Points
The SIM model breaks down the criminal justice system into stages—from crisis services to initial law enforcement contact to re-entry following incarceration—where individuals can be “intercepted” and connected to resources and services that may address the underlying causes of their interaction with the system.
The model, which was developed by experts in the early 2000s, identifies the following six intercepts:
- Intercept 0: Community Services: This intercept focuses on crisis services—such as crisis hotlines, mobile crisis outreach units, peer support services, and emergency departments—before any law enforcement involvement has occurred. When robust services are available at Intercept 0, many crises can be resolved without police involvement, thereby preventing individuals from entering the criminal justice system.
- Intercept 1: Law Enforcement Interaction: This interaction can result from a 911 call or other contact with law enforcement. At this stage, various interventions, including collaborations between police and mental health professionals and officers trained in crisis response, can divert individuals to treatment.
- Intercept 2: Initial Court Hearings and Initial Detention: At this post-arrest but pre-trial stage, intercepts include mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) screening in jails, pre-trial supervision with conditions, diversion to treatment courts or community service, and specialized pre-trial services. Identifying needs at this early stage can prevent unnecessary detention and connect people to services.
- Intercept 3: Jails and Courts: Once in the system, interventions include mental health and drug courts, jail-based treatment and services, court-based case managers, and alternative sentencing options. Specialized courts have successfully reduced recidivism by addressing the underlying issues.
- Intercept 4: Re-Entry: As individuals prepare to return to the community after incarceration, critical services include transition planning by the jail, peer support during the transition, access to medication and prescriptions upon release, and warm handoffs from corrections to care providers. The time immediately after release is a high-risk period that can be mitigated with these essential supports in place.
- Intercept 5: Community Corrections: For individuals under probation or parole, this intercept provides access to recovery support (including peer support), benefits, housing, and competitive employment opportunities. Continued access to medications, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT), is also critical.
The Science Behind the SIM
The SIM is based on several frameworks and evidence-based practices.
Systems Theory
The model recognizes the interaction between the multiple systems involved in criminal justice, acknowledging how a change in one part of the system affects others.
Public Health Approach
The SIM focuses on prevention at earlier intercept points, and provides treatment and support at later stages.
Cross-System Collaboration
The SIM provides a framework for cross-system collaboration, bringing together law enforcement, social support, care providers, and other stakeholders to create a shared language and goals. Studies show cross-system collaboration yields the best outcomes for justice-involved individuals with mental health and SUD.
Evidence-Based Strategies
Each intercept features strategies supported by research. As examples, officers trained for Crisis Intervention Teams (Intercept 1) can lead to fewer arrests and referrals to mental health services, specialized courts for mental health and drugs (Intercept 3) demonstrate reduced recidivism rates, and MAT (Intercept 5) for SUD significantly improves re-entry outcomes.mental health and SUD.
How CHESS Health’s Digital Solutions Support the SIM
CHESS Health’s digital suite of evidence-based SUD recovery tools actively supports multiple points on the SIM, assisting agencies and organizations by enhancing prevention, facilitating care coordination and collaboration, and improving plan adherence and treatment retention. Entities using CHESS Health’s suite of digital tools are achieving excellent results in delivering care to individuals involved in the justice system who are dealing with mental health and substance use disorders (SUD). These efforts not only help to lower recidivism rates but also provide effective solutions that alleviate the pressures faced by an already strained justice system.
CHESS Health’s tools can be utilized at multiple intercept stages to provide the necessary components of the SIM.
24/7 Peer Support and Crisis Assistance
The eRecovery solution provides critical support throughout the recovery journey, offering 24/7 access to a peer engagement team and crisis support through its evidence-based smartphone app, Connections. Peer support is recommended beginning at Intercept 0 and carries through Intercept 5.
Peer support is powerful at every intercept stage. Still, it can be essential for individuals with SUD who have entered into the criminal justice system and are working through drug courts or alternative sentencing programs. Individuals in residential treatment facilities use the Connections app to access 24/7 peer and crisis support.
At Intercepts 4 and 5, the Connections app supports individuals at a time of extremely high risk, as they prepare to leave incarceration and re-enter their communities. Peers help reduce stigma and provide guidance to individuals as they navigate re-entry.
SUD and Mental Health Screening and Assessment
Assessing the needs of an individual can occur at any intercept point. CHESS Health’s ePrevention solution offers digital assessments, including Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), with a custom rules engine that personalizes recommendations based on an individual’s responses. Enlisting ePrevention at Intercept 1 or 2 can help make clear that a diversion program is a solid option for an at-risk individual. Completing screenings digitally using ePrevention also captures vital community data and engagement outcomes, which are essential for accurate reporting. It can also help identify people with the common dual diagnosis of mental health issues and SUD.
Referrals to Treatment
CHESS Health’s eIntervention solution is a closed-loop referral process, connecting individuals in need to mental health, substance use disorder (SUD), and social determinants of health (SDOH) related support services. eIntervention is effective at any intercept, but when employed early, such as at Intercept 0, it can help prevent individuals from entering the criminal justice system. When law enforcement becomes involved in later intercepts, eIntervention helps officers ensure that people get the help they need.
Tracking Recovery-Related Requirements of Drug Courts, Probation, and Parole
Drug courts, probation, and parole all have requirements individuals must meet to comply, creating a tracking challenge for those charged with reporting on the results to align with Intercept 3. eRecovery records participation, giving people credit for attending virtual support meetings and completing other mandatory actions. This tracking streamlines reporting and helps hold individuals accountable for achieving their goals.
Re-entry Support
Re-entry after incarceration, particularly at Intercept 4, represents one of the most critical and high-risk periods for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). During this transitional phase, facilitating referrals to recovery support services and social determinants of health (SDOH) resources is essential for successful reintegration.
Additionally, providing peer support options for individuals as they re-enter society has been shown to significantly improve outcomes, including enhanced motivation to continue treatment. By bridging the gap between the corrections system and care providers through robust peer support, we can help ease the transition. This support not only reduces feelings of isolation and stigma but also mitigates the risk of dire outcomes, such as relapse or overdose. Establishing these connections is crucial for fostering a safe, supportive environment that empowers individuals on their journey to recovery.
Financial Benefits of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM)
The Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) presents significant financial benefits by diverting individuals with mental illness and substance use disorder to treatment and community-based resources rather than unnecessary involvement with the criminal justice system. Communities that employ SIM can decrease incarceration costs, reduce recidivism rates, improve public health outcomes, lower healthcare costs, and enhance inter-agency cooperation and process efficiency.
While mental health and substance use treatment and community-based programs do incur costs, evidence suggests they are generally less expensive and more effective in the long run.
The Buffalo Opioid Intervention Court in New York, operating at Intercept 2, has reported societal cost savings exceeding $300,000 per participant, highlighting the benefits of early intervention for high-risk individuals. In addition, the program has been shown to lower recidivism rates, which results in reduced law enforcement and justice-related expenditures.
The Crisis Intervention Team in Louisville, Kentucky, is an Intercept 1 program that has been found to generate more than $1 million in annual cost savings due to deferred hospitalizations, reduced inpatient referrals from jail, and the avoidance of bookings and incarceration. Programs like this lead to significant decreases in law enforcement expenses.
Memphis, Tennessee, also has a Crisis Intervention Team to reduce the reliance on arrests and physical force to resolve crises. In addition to a reduction in incarceration, the community saw an 80% reduction in officer injuries when responding during mental health crisis calls, saving money on healthcare costs and missed work time for officers.
In Yakima County, Washington, a collaborative diversion policy guided by the SIM resulted in a significant decrease in pretrial detention rates, going from 47% to 27% in just one year, implying considerable cost savings in jail expenditures.
By prioritizing treatment and support, the SIM not only alleviates the financial burden on communities but also contributes to healthier, more equitable systems.
Leveraging the Power of the Sequential Intercept Model
The Sequential Intercept Model provides communities with a comprehensive framework to address the complex needs of individuals with mental health and SUD who encounter the criminal justice system. Identifying these intercept points across the continuum from community services to re-entry enables communities to collaborate and use their resources strategically. Implementing the SIM and identifying opportunities to intervene earlier in the process can reduce incarceration rates, decrease recidivism, and enhance public safety while delivering humane and effective care.
CHESS Health’s digital solutions integrate seamlessly within the SIM framework, enhancing the effectiveness of interventions at multiple intercept points, extending the reach of existing programs, and reducing staff burden. Communities that adopt the SIM and leverage digital solutions are building more efficient, equitable, and compassionate systems that prioritize treatment and support over punishment, creating better outcomes for individuals and communities.
