Setting Eligibility Standards
Determining who will be eligible for a diversion program is an important early step in planning for a new prosecutor-led diversion program. Eligibility standards may be structured by combining exclusionary and/or inclusionary factors. For example, a program might include a specific crime type, such as drug offenses, but exclude certain types of crimes, such as offenses involving drug sales or deliveries.
Eligibility factors may include the types of offenses included, the risks and needs of a program participant, the criminal history of that person, or other situational factors in the crime charged or within criminal history. A prosecutor’s office may also want to consider other factors of eligibility, such as the amount of and capacity for a participant to make any restitution involved, whether the participant has previously or is currently enrolled in another diversion program, and whether identifiable victims consent to or have been consulted about a diversion being offered.
For a more detailed discussion of setting eligibility standards, see:
For some examples of eligibility criteria for prosecutor-led diversion programs, see: