Select which best describes your potential interest to find out how Prosecutor-Led Diversion applies to you.
Prosecutors
A prosecutor-led diversion program, particularly one that takes on more challenging populations of offenders, can be highly beneficial to the work of a prosecutor’s office. A prosecutor-led diversion program can be an important tool to expedite case dispositions, save limited criminal justice system resources, and produce better outcomes than are available through standard case processing. Saved resources can then be “reinvested” in prosecuting violent offenders.
A well-designed program can also link individuals to services, help reduce recidivism, improve the collection of victim restitution, and provide opportunities for citizens to directly participate in the criminal justice system through volunteerism. Offering diversion options may also improve a community’s perceptions of fairness regarding the operations of the prosecutor’s office and how it does justice. And finally, resource savings can be reinvested into other programs designed to improve the criminal justice system and the delivery of just outcomes.
Defense Counsel
A prosecutor-led diversion program can provide offenders with a critical opportunity to avoid a criminal conviction and help them turn their lives around. It can also help them avoid the collateral consequences of a conviction, such as increased difficulties in getting a job, finding housing, obtaining public benefits, or receiving student financial assistance. As such, diversion offers appropriate candidates with the hope of counseling, treatment, and engagement, rather than simply punishment and incarceration.
The creation of a new prosecutor-led diversion program allows prosecutors and defense counsel to collaborate in developing an alternative disposition option that better meets the needs of the affected stakeholders (victims, offenders, and the public) without having to sacrifice their professional and ethical responsibilities to the people that they represent. Defense counsel are an important resource for prosecutors to understand what an offender’s needs are and how they can be met, why a client may be an appropriate diversion candidate, and what kind of diversion programming a client may be more inclined to accept. These insights can result in the design of a better program and one that more individuals are willing to opt into.
The Judiciary
Prosecutors and the judiciary have a long tradition of collaboration on developing problem solving courts and prosecutor-led diversion initiatives. Judges have long recognized that such programs, particularly where they divert an individual at the earliest possible stage of a case, can help to reduce over-crowded court dockets and more effectively manage a court’s potential workload. This has led some judges to offer judicial resources, such as case management assistance through probation and pretrial services staff and specialized court calendars, to help support such programming even in circumstances where a case has not yet been filed.
The creation of a new prosecutor-led diversion program allows prosecutors and the judiciary to collaborate in developing a broader array of alternative diversion disposition options, one that runs the gamut from the point where a prosecutor receives a referral from the law enforcement to the point where an individual is involved in a pre-adjudication problem solving court. This collaboration can help to improve all of these potential “off ramps” from traditional case processing.
Pretrial & Probation
Prosecutors, pretrial services staff, and probation officers have a long history of working collaboratively as partners in the criminal justice system. With the rise of problem-solving courts, and both prosecution-led and court-led diversion efforts, that collaboration has never been more important. Essential to a prosecutor-led diversion effort is the need to identify experienced case managers to monitor participant performance. Both pretrial services staff and probation officers are ideal partners to fulfill this important role given their experience and training.
Providing this support to a prosecutor-led diversion effort, particularly where that program removes individuals from traditional case processing as early as is practical, can result in significant relief to over-crowded court dockets. That relief can also translate into reduced workloads for both pretrial services and probation staff and allow them to reinvest that saved time in more meaningful contacts with the clients that they serve.
Reciprocally, prosecutors can support the problem-solving court and court-led diversion efforts of their judicial partners as they work together to build a more efficient and effective criminal justice system. The creation of a new prosecutor-led diversion program is an important opportunity to continue that history of collaboration as each of the system partners realigns the use of their resources to produce better outcomes.
Law Enforcement
Law enforcement and prosecutors have a lengthy history of working collaboratively on protecting public safety in our nation’s communities. As the first responders to a criminal episode and the party primarily responsible for investigating such an incident, law enforcement officers often have critical insights on the individuals who they arrest or refer for charges. Those insights can be highly useful to prosecutors when they decide whether a given individual should be diverted, receive probation, or be incarcerated.
Just as law enforcement officers do not operate in a vacuum when making discretion calls regarding release or jail, and treatment or booking in a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program (LEAD) or a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) context, prosecutors should take advantage of law enforcement’s knowledge and expertise about a given offender and the circumstances of their offence in making diversion decisions. The creation of a new prosecutor-led diversion program presents an important opportunity for prosecutors and law enforcement to work together to support their mutual goals regarding the use of diversion and support each other’s efforts at accomplishing them.
Social Services
A key component of a robust prosecutor-led diversion program is the linkage of a program participant to social services that will help address the underlying issues that may be contributing to their criminal behavior. Social services designed to address drug or alcohol abuse, mental illness, or provide help to victims of human trafficking (post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual abuse counseling, etc.) are an integral part of the Prosecutor-Led Diversion Initiative. There are also several additional needs that these participants may present with: housing, employment, life-skills training, public benefits, education, and many more.
Prosecutors and social services providers have a long history of collaboration in delivering such services in both the problem-solving court and the prosecutor-led diversion context. This collaboration has been mutually beneficial because participants get the services they need to turn their lives around, prosecutors can divert individuals from often over-burdened court calendars, and social services providers can connect, or often re-connect, with the very clients that their services are designed to help. The creation of a new prosecutor-led diversion program presents an important opportunity to build upon this history of collaboration and continue to improve communication and understanding between prosecutors and social services providers.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why should diversion programs matter to the general public?
Diversion programs represent an important opportunity to dispose of appropriate criminal cases in a faster, less costly, and more effective way. This can save victims, witness, and jurors the time and money associated with the traditional trial process and free police officer witnesses to return to law enforcement activities back on the street. Victims in diversion cases may receive more restitution and more rapidly than they might otherwise. Diversion programs can also provide appropriate individuals with an important second chance at turning their lives around. And finally, many diversion programs create opportunities for citizens to participate more directly in the criminal justice system through volunteerism.
Are all individuals eligible for diversion?
Diversion happens at different stages. Police, prosecutors, judges and even community groups may be involved in No, jurisdictions often place significant limitations on who is eligible for diversion based on the charge, their criminal history, and the circumstances of the case. Diversion may be limited to misdemeanors, first-time offenders or juveniles, or people facing challenges from mental health or drug addiction. In other programs, more serious offenses may be considered such as felony property or drug offenses. Most diversion programs preclude charges involving violence to persons or more serious felonies.
What if I am or someone I care about is facing charges, how can we learn about whether diversion is an option?
The web pages of many prosecutor’s offices describe what diversion programs their offices may be involved with. If you are represented by legal counsel, you should discuss what those diversions options are with them. Your local public defender agency is also a potential resource for information regarding a jurisdiction’s diversion programs.
What happens if I do not complete the requirements of a diversion program?
Although programs differ somewhat in their details, failure to complete programmatic requirements may lead to reinstitution of original case or may result in the entry of a finding of guilt. You should get a clear understanding of what the consequences of a failure are from legal counsel, prior to entering such a program.
What are mandated social services requirements?
Many diversion programs require that a program participants complete a course of treatment with social services providers based on a needs assessment of the participant. If such a course of treatment is mandated, participants must complete such treatment to successfully complete the program.
What is restitution?
Restitution is the act making amends for the harm caused by the behavior done to individuals and the community. Restitution may involve paying for damages done to the victim, or community service for the benefit of the public. Restitution requirements differ from one program to another.
What happens if a diversion programs requirements are successfully completed?
Successful completion of a diversion program usually results in the dismissal of charges and the opportunity the opportunity to seal or expunge the proceedings. Such an outcome prevents a criminal conviction from appearing on a person’s criminal record. Program participants should get a clear understanding of what the consequences of a successful or unsuccessful completion are before entering into a program