Diversion program

A diversion program in the criminal justice system is a program run by a police department, court, a district attorney's office, or outside agency designed to enable alleged offenders of criminal law to avoid criminal charges and a criminal record.^[1][2] The purposes of diversion are generally thought to include relief to the courts, police department and probation office, better outcomes compared to direct involvment of the court system, and an opportunity for the offender to avoid prosecution by completing various requirements for the program. These requirements may include:^[3]

• Education aimed at preventing future offenses by the offender
• Restitution to victims of the offense
• Completion of community service hours
• Avoiding situations for a specified period of time in the future that may lead to committing another such offense (such as contact with certain people)

Diversion programs often frame these requirements as an alternative to court or police involvement or, if these institutions are already involved, further prosecution. Successful completion of program requirements often will lead to a dropping or reduction of the charges while failure may bring back or heighten the penalties involved. Charges dismissed because of a diversion program will still lead to additional criminal history points under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines if there was a finding of guilt by a court or the defendant pleaded guilty or otherwise admitted guilt in open court, provided that the deferred disposition was not a juvenile matter.^[4]

Diversion and Juvenile Justice

In the case of Juvenile Justice, diversion has played a key role in improving outcomes and rehabilitating youthful offenders. The concept of diversion is based on the theory that processing certain youth through the juvenile justice system may do more harm than good.^[5] Programs meant to divert Juvenile Delinquents are often fundamentally different from the programs meant for adults. Many times youth will present with substance abuse and mental health issues which may be the underlying cause of such delinquency

References

1. ^ http://www.magistratescourt.vic.gov.au/CA256CD30010D864/page/Police+Cases+and+Other+Prosecutions-Diversion+Program?OpenDocument&1=20-Police+Cases+and+Other+Prosecutions~&2=60-Diversion+Program~&3=~
2. ^ http://www.co.pueblo.co.us/da/juvdiversion.shtml
3. ^ http://www.jhs-niagara.ca/diversion.htm
4. ^ U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(f)({{{6}}}) (2009)
5. ^ http://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/9909-3/div.html

This criminology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Criminology stubs Courts Penology Criminal law Crime prevention Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную? USS Gibson County (LST-794) Denmark national badminton team Look at other dictionaries: diversion program — A disposition of a criminal defendant either before or after adjudication of guilt in which the court directs the defendant to participate in a work or educational program as part of a probation …   Black's law dictionary diversion program — A disposition of a criminal defendant either before or after adjudication of guilt in which the court directs the defendant to participate in a work or educational program as part of a probation …   Black's law dictionary Dairy Diversion Program — The Dairy Diversion Program is a voluntary supply control program authorized by the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 (P.L. 98 180, Title I) of United States, under which producers in 1984 85 received payments of $10/cwt. of milk, for… …   Wikipedia Potato Diversion Program — Le Potato Diversion Program (PDP, « programme de détournement des pommes de terre ») est un programme de soutien du marché mis en œuvre par le département de l Agriculture des États Unis (USDA) destiné à détourner du marché, en… …   Wikipédia en Français Diversion — may refer to: diversion, a detour, especially of an airplane flight due to severe weather or mechanical failure, or of an ambulance from a fully occupied emergency room to one another nearby hospital diversion, a distraction diversion, a form of… …   Wikipedia diversion — di·ver·sion /də vər zhən, dī / n: the act or an instance of diverting: as a: an unauthorized rerouting or appropriation diversion of funds b: suspension of the prosecution of a charge for a period of time during which the defendant participates… …   Law dictionary Diversion Investigator — (DI) is the title of a specialist position within the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States Department of Justice. Most DIs are part of DEA s Diversion Control Program and are assigned to various DEA field offices throughout… …   Wikipedia Bad Check Restitution Program — A Bad Check Restitution Program is an intermediate agency that works to retrieve funds from bad check writers in order to repay moneys owed to the recipients of the checks.About half of all U.S. states offer some type of Bad Check Restitution… …   Wikipedia University Degree Program — Not to be confused with University Consulting Inc., another diploma mill group University Degree Program (UDP) is an unaccredited consortium of diploma mills run by Americans Jason and Caroline Abraham (of Brooklyn, New York; also known by their… …   Wikipedia Nuclear program of Iran — See also: Iran and weapons of mass destruction Nuclear program of Iran …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”