Philadelphia’s largest misdemeanor diversion program expands with more hours and 3 new neighborhood locations
The Accelerated Misdemeanor Program, run by Municipal Court, offers an alternative to traditional prosecution for low-level violations.
A pretrial diversion program in Philadelphia that has operated in a diminished capacity since the pandemic will soon expand its reach, doubling its weekly schedule and adding new locations across the city, criminal justice officials said this week.
The program, known as the Accelerated Misdemeanor Program, or AMP, allows people charged with certain low-level offenses to avoid prosecution by completing community service, treatment or other mandated requirements. Then, their charges are dismissed upon successful completion.
AMP, the city’s largest diversion program, was suspended at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and later reinstated on a limited basis, operating just two days a week — a fraction of its previous five-day schedule.
Beginning April 6, the program will run Monday through Thursday at five sites citywide, said Caleb Arnold, who supervises the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office’s adult diversion unit. The expansion is expected to broaden access for the hundreds of people who enter the program each year, Arnold said.
The district attorney’s office on Wednesday also released a report on the program’s outcomes, finding that participants overwhelmingly complete AMP and are rarely rearrested — results that prosecutors say underscore the program’s effectiveness as an alternative to traditional prosecution.
Until now, AMP, which is run by Municipal Court, has operated out of the Center for Criminal Justice and the 25th Police District on Whitaker Avenue in North Philadelphia, where roughly 15% of referrals originate, according to prosecutors. Next week, it will expand to three additional sites across the city: the 18th Police District on Pine Street in West Philadelphia, the 35th Police District on North Broad Street in Ogontz and the 8th Police District on Red Lion Road in Morrell Park.
Prosecutors and public defenders said they hoped that placing the program closer to where arrests occur would make it easier for participants to attend their court dates and be screened for eligibility.
Andrew Pappas, managing director of pretrial services for the Defender Association of Philadelphia, said participation in AMP remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Before 2020, he said, the program routinely handled more than 100 cases a day. Now, it sees closer to 40 to 60.
As the new sites come online, Pappas said, caseloads will likely start small. “The hope,” he said, “is that they will grow and we can build the program back to what it was.”
Municipal Court Administrative Judge Joffie C. Pittman III said the court is optimistic that “re-extending our reach city-wide will provide some optimism to the residents in our communities whose daily lives may be impacted by many of the quality-of-life issues we are addressing in AMP,” including non-violent drug, theft, and trespassing offenses.
The report by the district attorney’s office also provides a detailed look at who is admitted into AMP and the types of requirements participants complete, including community service and treatment programs, along with data on completion rates and recidivism.
The program operates on two tracks: AMP I, which is intended for people with little or no prior criminal record, and AMP II, which serves those with prior nonviolent misdemeanor convictions.
The report found that completion rates are high: About 96% of participants in AMP I and 99.5% in AMP II successfully finished the program since 2022. Among those who did, about 7% were rearrested within a year, according to the report. Alexei Taylor, a senior data analyst with the District Attorney’s Office, described the rates as “shockingly high.”
“It shows that people are actually engaging in the program,” he said.
Pittman said court data shows an 83% completion rate, which includes cases still pending a resolution.
The report also found that AMP now handles nearly half the city’s misdemeanor drug cases and has taken on about 80% of unlawful liquor sales cases over the past three years. Acceptance rates have steadily increased, rising from roughly 40% of referrals in 2022 to a little more than 47% last year.
Even so, Pittman said that “AMP is currently underutilized and will have no trouble handling an increase in caseload. ... If the volume increases, we will expand to include Friday.”