NCJ Number
75858
Journal
Corrections Magazine Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1981) Pages: 5-7,10-11,36
Date Published
1981
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The effectiveness of pretrial diversion programs is discussed, reasons for failure are identified, and recently completed evaluative research on this topic is reviewed.
Abstract
Pretrial diversion programs were developed during the late 1960's, when their proponents conviced convinced courts that many defendants could benefit from a period of crisis intervention while avoiding the indignities of pretrial detention. These programs have been criticized as ineffective for some time; however, a study of the Court Employment Project (CEP) in New York City, one of the oldest and largest such programs, has lent substance to critics' charges. The evaluation, known as the Vera study, revealed that CEP was ineffective in reducing pretrial detention, convictions, or jail sentences and was not affecting the clients' behavior, lifestyles, or their recidivism. The program was found to be severely hampered by prosecutor's decisions to refer only cases against which evidence was weak and little chance of conviction existed. The program was also misused in other ways. Judges used it to clear their calendars and defendants used it to avoid prosecution with the minimum personal involvement and expenditure possible. An important aspect of the Vera study was the effort to ensure that experimental and control group members were matched by characteristics. This was accomplished by selecting only persons declared eligible for CEP in both groups; those whoe participated in the program were in the experimental group, while eligible subjects not selected for CEP were included in the control group. Studies of pretial detention programs in Rochester, N.Y., and Newark, N.J., produced positive results. Following validation of Vera study results, CEP pretrial detention activities were terminated. Photographs are included.