Aleph Institute Alternative Sentencing Program
A restorative alternative to incarceration for eligible, nonviolent, first-time offenders
What Is the Alternative Sentencing Program?
The Aleph Institute's Alternative Sentencing Program (sometimes called the Aleph Diversionary Program) works with courts, defense attorneys, and probation offices to offer an individualized alternative to traditional incarceration. Rather than sending an eligible defendant to prison, Aleph designs a structured plan built around probation, community service, religious and moral education, and ongoing social-work support — all while the individual remains at home with their family.
The program is typically presented by defense counsel as a sentencing option at the pre-sentencing or post-conviction stage. Aleph Institute staff, along with attorneys, clergy, and educators, work on behalf of eligible individuals to build a plan that reflects the goals of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: retribution, restitution, deterrence, and rehabilitation, balanced against the interests of public safety.
Who Is Eligible?
Not everyone qualifies. The program is generally reserved for defendants who:
- Have not committed a violent crime
- Are first-time offenders
- Are not considered a danger to public safety
- Show genuine remorse for their conduct, in the view of the court
Every applicant goes through a comprehensive risk-and-needs assessment before being considered. Defendants convicted of violent crimes or certain drug offenses are typically not eligible.
How the Program Works
Once a defendant is accepted, Aleph builds a plan tailored to that individual's case. While details vary, a typical alternative sentence includes:
- Probation, supervised by the U.S. or state Probation Office, for a period the court deems appropriate
- Regular reporting to Aleph Institute, often daily, with monthly compliance reports submitted to the Probation Office
- At least three hours per week of religious and/or social education, taught by the individual's own clergy and focused on the harm caused to victims, family, and the broader community
- At least fifteen hours per week of community service, matched to the nature of the offense and monitored by Aleph, with results included in monthly reporting
- Monthly meetings for the first six months with the program director, shifting to quarterly meetings after demonstrated progress
- Weekly sessions with an Aleph Institute social worker
Program costs are generally the responsibility of the participant, but Aleph notes that fees may be deferred, reduced, or waived in cases of financial hardship, taking restitution obligations into account.
Why Alternative Sentencing? The Case Aleph Makes
Cost to Taxpayers
Aleph points to research from the Vera Institute of Justice showing that even as some state prison populations have leveled off or declined slightly, corrections spending has continued to climb — a pattern Aleph argues favors lower-cost community-based alternatives such as halfway houses, work release, house arrest, and day reporting over full incarceration for nonviolent offenders. Aleph also cites ACLU research on the high cost of incarcerating older adults, who represent a large share of program participants, noting that housing an aging prisoner can cost roughly double the average per-inmate cost.
Impact on Families
Aleph's materials emphasize that incarceration doesn't affect only the person sentenced — it affects their entire household. The organization cites research indicating that children of incarcerated parents show elevated rates of delinquency, depression, and behavioral difficulties, and that divorce rates for those incarcerated a year or more can exceed 80%. By keeping participants at home, working, and connected to family, the program aims to preserve the relationships that research from the Urban Institute links to better post-release employment outcomes and lower recidivism.
Restorative Justice
Community service requirements are designed to let participants see firsthand the effects of their actions and make amends directly to the community, consistent with a restorative justice model that emphasizes repairing harm over pure punishment.
Reported Results
Aleph reports it has achieved zero recidivism among past participants in similar alternative sentencing arrangements, and notes that comparable community-based rehabilitation approaches (moral education, community service, accountability, spiritual counseling) have been associated with recidivism rates below 20% among individuals on probation or reentering society nationally. These figures come from Aleph's own program materials rather than an independent evaluation.
National Context: Why This Kind of Program Exists
Aleph situates its Alternative Sentencing Program within the broader story of incarceration growth in the United States:
- The U.S. incarceration rate rose sharply in the last quarter of the 20th century, and Aleph's materials cite a rise from about 161 to 767 per 100,000 residents between 1973 and 2007.
- The United States continues to have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. As of the most recent solid Bureau of Justice Statistics figures (2022), the U.S. rate stood at roughly 541 per 100,000 — among the highest of any country, even after several years of decline from a 2008 peak of about 2.31 million people held in prisons and jails.
- Nationally, at yearend 2023 about 1.85 million people were incarcerated in state or federal prisons or local jails, while more than 3.77 million more were under community supervision (probation or parole) — together putting roughly 1 in every 47 adult U.S. residents under some form of correctional control.
- At midyear 2024, local jails alone held about 657,500 people, the majority of them (69%) not yet convicted and simply awaiting court action.
- State corrections spending nationally grew from about $6.7 billion in 1985 to roughly $57.7 billion by the mid-2010s, a trend Aleph's materials point to when arguing for lower-cost, community-based alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.
- An estimated 1.7 million children nationally have a parent currently incarcerated, underscoring the family-stability rationale behind alternative sentencing.
(National incarceration and correctional-population figures above are drawn from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' "Correctional Populations in the United States" and "Jails Report Series" data, and from the Prison Policy Initiative's "Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie" reporting.)
Learn More
- Aleph Institute Alternative Sentencing Program overview — alephne.org
- Monetary Savings for the Community
- Strengthening Bonds
- Our Program Outlined
- The Need
- ASP Brochure and short video (available via the Alternative Sentencing Program page on alephne.org)
Contact: The Aleph Institute – N.E. Regional Headquarters 5804 Beacon Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-2004 Phone: 412-421-0111
This page summarizes publicly available program information from alephne.org together with current national criminal-justice statistics. Program details, eligibility criteria, and costs are set by the Aleph Institute and the courts on a case-by-case basis; anyone considering the program should contact Aleph Institute directly or consult with defense counsel for current, case-specific information.
Monetary Savings for the Community
Alternative Sentencing Program outline
The need for our Alternative Sentencing Program