What is diversion ?
Details of the Adult Diversion Scheme
Diversion is a scheme that provides an opportunity for Police to deal with some offences and/or offenders without going through formal court prosecution. The purposes of diversion are to:
address offending behaviour that has resulted in charges
balance the needs of victims, the offender and their communities
give offenders an opportunity to avoid conviction
reduce re-offending.
Diversion involves an offender agreeing to fulfil certain conditions in exchange for the charges being withdrawn. The charges are withdrawn only after the conditions have been fulfilled. The benefit of this scheme is that it provides an incentive for non-recidivist offenders involved with low level offending to take responsibility for their actions without receiving a conviction.
