NCJ Number
103705
Date Published
1985
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper examines issues pertaining to the legal status of persons before and after pretrial diversion and the official response to divertees who fail to meet diversion conditions.
Abstract
Diversion often involves the suspension of prosecution after a charge has been brought, based upon the accused's completion of specified conditions. This raises legal issues that must be addressed. Should confessional statements be a precondition of diversion, the issues of inducements that undermine voluntariness and the use of such confessions in any subsequent trial must be addressed. To ensure the protection of the accused, legal representation should be available to the accused at the prediversion stage of case processing. Another legal issue in diversion is the use of diversion programs that impose restrictions or uncomfortable programs that impose restrictions or uncomfortable requirements upon divertees. This could be conceived as punishment without formal adjudication of guilt. When a divertee who fails to meet the conditions of a diversion order is subsequently brought to trial, protections must be provided to ensure that induced self-incriminating statements made at the time of diversion are not admissible as evidence and that the diversion failure is not used to prejudice the adjudication or increase sentence severity. There will be many cases for which absolute discharge is appropriate at the outset, foreclosing any possibility of subsequent prosecution.