Sentencing Diversion Programs

The Purpose of Diversion Programs

Diversion has always been an informal option for the police and prosecutors, but the development of formalized programs is relatively recent. Diversion is an attempt to stem the tide of PMIs who enter the criminal justice system. An estimated 900,000 persons with serious mental illness are booked into U.S. jails annually. (Serious mental illness is typically defined as having a schizo-spectrum, bipolar, or major depressive disorder.) Approximately 10% to 15% of jail and prison inmates have a serious mental illness compared with about 3% of the general population. Moreover, PMIs who are involved in the justice system tend to have repeated, “revolving-door” contact with law enforcement and the courts. It has been said that U.S. jails and prisons have become de facto mental health institutions. Because of [Page 711]the volume of PMIs involved in the criminal justice system and the associated problems (e.g., behavioral problems while incarcerated, access to medication), formal diversion programs have been developed to help reduce the number and frequency with which PMIs pass through the criminal justice system. Typically, diversion programs are premised on the notion that PMIs who access and engage in community treatment will be less likely to have police contact and less likely to be charged with crimes, thereby reducing the repeated cycling.

Timing of Diversion

There are two main forms of diversion programs: pre-booking (or prearrest) and postbooking (including mental health courts). Although diversion can occur at any point along the criminal justice continuum, including probation and parole, one goal of diversion is to identify potential participants as early as possible. The timing of diversion, however, can depend on awareness of the mental illness and of the diversion program itself. For example, an inmate may not be recognized as having a mental illness (or as being a suitable candidate for the program) until after several months of pretrial detainment. Additionally, in larger urban communities, many criminal justice personnel with whom the PMI interacts may not even know a diversion program exists in their locale.

The timing of the referral and whether the program is preor postbooking also influence the diversion process itself. Specifically, prebooking programs divert the PMI from being arrested and charged and, thus, from criminal justice involvement entirely. That is, for PMIs involved in prebooking diversion programs, law enforcement has used their discretion to not arrest them. Currently, there are an estimated 120 prebooking diversion programs. A growing form of prebooking diversion programs are crisis intervention teams (CITs). The CIT model is primarily concerned with de-escalating crisis situations between police officers and PMIs in the field, but it also involves making informed decisions about when to arrest PMIs rather than taking them to treatment settings.

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