Yes, but it starts with the premise that these are alternatives. If anything, I think these are things that are good in _addition_ to our current system, but as a replacement I think it's a bit of a pipe dream.
Further, I take issue with the whole notion of the United States being a society "dominated by the police." It looks like we have just the right amount[1], so it seems to me that the issue is lack of training, accountability and open reporting combined with effective police review that are likely to be our problems.
And, yet, our police seem to be extraordinarily effective at imprisoning people, comparatively speaking. If we have the right amount of police (at their current efficiency), does that mean we have the right amount of people in prison?
That's part of it, and the laws are part of it, too. But, I believe policing accounts for a significant portion of that disparity between the US and other developed, democratic-ish, nations.
Here's why I believe that: Black folks are arrested at a rate of 2.5 times, or more, that of white folks, despite committing crimes at about the same rate as white folks (actually, for some classes of crime, such as marijuana use, whites commit crime at a higher rate). This tells me that police exercise discretion when making arrests. And, were they to exercise that discretion equally across races, there would be either a lot fewer or a lot more arrests, and a lot fewer or a lot more people being imprisoned.
In short, to put it into language that HN folks will understand, it is like a sales funnel. Police are an early stage in the funnel for filling prisons, and every stage in the funnel plays a role in the prison industrial complex.
Sources on the 2.5, or higher, number (any time race comes up as a factor, someone will challenge it...so, preemptive response):
Further, I take issue with the whole notion of the United States being a society "dominated by the police." It looks like we have just the right amount[1], so it seems to me that the issue is lack of training, accountability and open reporting combined with effective police review that are likely to be our problems.
1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...