Jail Diversion Programs

-What Is a Jail Diversion program
-Purpose Of Jail Summary
-Diversion/Intervention Programs
-Does Jail Diversion Reduce Recidivism
-Effectiveness Of Jail Diversion Program
-Benefits Of Jail Diversion Programs
-Mental health diversion programs
-Executive Summary

What Is Jail Diversion
Jail diversion refers to a situation where a convicted fellow avoids arrest or spends significantly reduced jail time and lockups on the current charge or violations of probation resulting from previous orders because of mental illness or conditions. It is a term used in referring to those general programs that divert individuals with serious mental illness (and often co-occurring substance use disorders) away from jail and provide them with services of community-based treatment and support as they duly need.

Diversion/Intervention Programs
Diversion/intervention programs may include programs traditionally thought of an intervention that focuses on changing outcomes for persons served and targeting the problem's antecedents. Diversion/intervention programs utilize strategies to intervene with at-risk or identified individuals to lessen or eliminate identified concerns. Within the child welfare field, illustrations include alternative response, -differential response, or numerous response systems and kinship diversion.
Diversion/intervention programs may serve -persons on a voluntary and involuntary purpose. Programs that help persons on an automatic basis implement unique strategies for engaging this population.
Intervention programs target persons exhibiting early signs of identified problems and are at risk for continued or increased difficulties. 
Diversion programs may include juvenile justice/court diversion, substance abuse diversion, truancy diversion, DUI/OWI classes, report centres, home monitoring, after-school tracking, anger management, and building healthy relationships.

Purposes Of Jail Diversion
A diversion program, also known as a pretrial diversion program or pretrial intervention program, in the criminal justice system is a form of pretrial sentencing in which a convicted fellow joins a rehabilitation program to help heal from the behaviour leading to the original arrest, allow the offender to avoid jail term and, in some jurisdictions, avoid a record as a criminal. The programs are often run by a police department, court, or a district attorney, who typically include a diversion component as part of their program. The purposes of DiversionDiversion are usually made to have relief to the courts, police department and probation office, better outcomes compared to the court system's direct involvement, and an opportunity for the culprit to avoid prosecution by completing various requirements for the program. These requirements may include:
• Education aimed at preventing future offences by the criminal/culprit
• Restitution to victims of the offence
• Completion of social service hours
• Avoiding occasions for a specified period in the future that may lead to committing another such violation
Diversion programs often frame these requirements as an alternative to court or police involvement or, if these institutions are already involved, to stall further prosecution. Successful completion of the program requirements often will lead to a dismissal or reduction of the charges, while failure may bring back or heighten the penalties involved. Never, charges dismissed because of a diversion program will still lead to an additional criminal record in the justice system.
While it is acknowledged that some youth commit severe violations and may need to be restricted within a secure setting, research has shown that many children in the juvenile justice system are there for somewhat minor offences, have significant mental health issues, and end up in out-of-home placement or on probation by default. Diversion programs are alternatives to initial or continued legal processing of youth in the juvenile delinquency system.

Does Jail Diversion Reduce Recidivism
Results indicated that DiversionDiversion is more effective in drastically reducing recidivism than conventional judicial interventions. Moderator analysis revealed that both study- and program-level variables influenced program efficacy and effectiveness. The relationship between program-level variables (e.g., referral level) and the risk level targeted by diversion programs (e.g., low or medium/high) were significant. Further research is required to implement challenging research designs and explore the risk level positions on youth diversion effectiveness.

Effectiveness Of Jail Diversion Program
Diversion program comes in many forms and has effectively proved to be way cheaper and better than actual incarceration. It has basic principles that are well-established and straightforward: A person convicted of a crime fulfils specific requirements, such as completing treatment, paying restitution, or performing community services for some time. It is a positive tool that should be adopted more frequently.
Studies have shown that it saves the state and the justice system a lot of money and resources. Elected prosecutors are usually the only people against this program.
Variety of diversion program is obtainable, some of them includes :
• variety of diversion program types, including:
• mental health courts;
• therapeutic justice interventions;
• mentoring program ;
• teen/youth courts and
• truancy prevention/intervention programs

Benefits Of Diversion Programs
• a written or in-person apology: the convict can tender a personal apology to the offender as the case may be.
• The opportunity to voice their perspectives and participate in a restorative justice process.
• Learning about the circumstances surrounding the offence: the fell on gets the chance to know more about his or her crimes and how it affects society and its individuals negatively knowledge of Diversion'sDiversion's effectiveness in preventing future criminal behaviour and financial restitution for their loss.

Mental health diversion programs
This provides treatment-based alternatives to guilty sanctions for persons with serious mental illness or co-occurring conditions that conflict with the law. There are various diversion models in operation across countries and their jurisdictions, such as in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries.

Executive Summary
In the United States Of America, the Shelby County jail diversion project provided a profitable strategy for observing and developing appropriate diversion programs outlining linkage to necessary community treatment services and resources. Through a collaborative planning process with criminal justice and community stakeholders, individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use problems were diverted from the criminal justice system and into community-based treatment services. A leading behavioural healthcare provider of evidence-based treatment services for individuals with co-occurring disorders provided integrated treatment services combined with best practice approaches for criminal justice-involved populations.
Diversion program participants were enrolled in grant-funded services and offered the opportunity to participate in a longitudinal evaluation of diversion program services. The purpose of this evaluation report is to document and describe project findings and results. A detailed description of project services follows a brief knowledge and purpose of the jail diversion project. A chronological summary of project activities comprises brief highlights for grant-funded services each year. The remaining categories detail evaluation protocols and results, including an overall conclusion of evaluation findings. Key highlights from this evaluation report include the following:
• One hundred twenty-eight individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders were successfully diverted. They were eligible for at least one follow-up by the end of grant-funded services.
• Of the 220 potential candidates screened for the diversion program, 60 did not meet the criteria based on detailed assessment and roundtable review process. An additional 32 candidates met the initial screening criteria. Still, they did not complete the community linkage planning process for presentation to the courts due to various legal reasons (case disposed of/dismissed, unable to split co-defendant case, additional charges) before production (44%). Other reasons contained release (24%), psychiatric criteria (17%), refused (12%), and referred elsewhere (3%).
• There were no significant differences between diversion candidates approved to the program and those not accepted based on general characteristics, including age, gender, or race.
• Of those who were successfully diverted, 62% finished 6-8 weeks of community-based intensive outpatient treatment (IOP) services which utilized evidence-based integrated therapy services.
• Diversion program participants who completed community-based treatment services were considerably less likely to return to the criminal justice system six months and 12 months following DiversionDiversion when controlling for other potentially significant predictors of recidivism.
• Overall, substance use declined from 81% at baseline to 30% at six months and 27% at 12 months, including similar patterns of improved outcomes for those who report initial drug use, alcohol use, and alcohol use to intoxication.
• Mental health symptoms (frequency and severity) and daily serving outcome measures improved similarly from baseline to 6-months with improvements maintained at 12-month