NIJ's Multisite Evaluation of Prosecutor-Led Diversion Programs: Strategies, Impacts, and Cost-Effectiveness

ABSTRACT

In recent years, a growing number of prosecutors have established pretrial diversion programs, either before charges are filed with the court or after the court process begins, but before a disposition. This project's design included separate process, impact, and cost evaluations. In a second component of the project, quasi-experimental impact evaluations were conducted on five programs in three sites (two programs each in Cook County, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and one in Chittenden County, Vermont. For each program, diversion participants were matched with comparison groups composed of similar but non-participating defendants. The study found that across five programs in three sites, diversion participants benefited from a reduced likelihood of conviction and incarceration. In four of the five programs, pretrial diversion participation was linked to reduced re-arrest rates. In addition, in all four programs for which a cost evaluation was conducted, diversion cases involved a lesser resource investment than similar comparison cases. 20 tables, 1 figure, 42 references, and appended technical reports on impact evaluation methods and cost-evaluation methods