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Forging Law Enforcement/School System Partnerships: Using Youth Diversion

Programs to Address the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Introduction
The National Institute of Justice defines youth diversion as an intervention or strategy that

prevents young people from being formally processed through the juvenile or adult court system

but still holds them accountable for their actions (National Institute of Justice, 2017). The goals of

youth diversion are to limit juvenile involvement in the justice system (and in some cases, connect

youth with more appropriate services), reduce delinquent offending behaviors and recidivism,

increase system efficiency, and reduce overall costs to the community, youth, and their families

(Cocozza et al., 2005). Broadly there are two types of youth diversion – informal and formal.

Informal diversion is implemented without any further accountability steps and incurs no court

involvement/record (Siegel & Welsh, 2009). Formal diversion typically requires accountability for

one’s actions, and is implemented through a diversion contract or commitment to fulfill specific

conditions or expectations and when said conditions are met, no further justice contact is required

(Dembo, Wareham, & Schmeidler, 2005). If, however, these conditions or expectations are not

met, official court processing may be a consequence (Wilson & Hoge, 2012). Examples of formal

diversion programming include: community service, alternative courts (e.g., teen, mental health,

drug, gun, and treatment), restitution, mediation, restorative justice, life or employment skills, and

family counseling (Bartollas, 2006; Mears et al., 2016; Schwalbe et al., 2012).

Youth may be offered diversion at various contact points within the juvenile justice system

including pre- and post-charge/complaint (Bates & Swan, 2018). Pre-charge diversion is typically

reserved for first-time or low-risk juvenile offenders and carries no court record (Siegel & Welsh,

2009). Post-charge is usually formal diversion, involves law enforcement or prosecution, requires

an admission of guilt, and includes the aforementioned contract or conditions be met to either

dismiss charges or eliminate the court record (Cocozza et al., 2005; Wilson & Hoge, 2012).

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