When I read about pre-trial intervention programs and such I figured that , with a clean record, everybody is eligible for that or another alternative unless it's drugs,guns, or other serious offenses.
What you said makes sense.
I'm just old enough to remember the original Scared Straight program, and I never want to see any parts of jail.
The thing about intervention programs is they don't always help you depending on how many counts you might have gotten. If you get busted selling weed to a cop a few times, it's essentially the same crime but they hit you with 3 charges and tack on every other charge they can dig up from the books as a scare tactic. The end result is often them giving you a minimal sentence if they can't qualify multiple charges for the program they say they offer. In this day and age, I think it's rare to get hit with just one charge. They'll throw as many as possible to get you to take a plea and be done with it. But as PB clarified, you get put in with like minded people. If you're selling weed, you'll probably be with people in the low risk unit unless you become a fool in jail and wanna show how tough you are in the holding tank while you're being processed. All the violence you hear about is generally done by violent people onto other violent people who found out they weren't so tough when they got locked up
