NCJ Number
252974
Date Published
February 2017
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This Fact Sheet poses and answers questions related to the features, administration, and participation in the Prosecutor-Led Diversion Initiative (PDI), which is the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJS') national training and technical assistance program to assist prosecutors in planning, implementing, and evaluating new prosecutor-led diversion options.
Abstract
The PDI has the following major objectives: 1) to provide training and technical assistance to at least 16 jurisdictions that want to develop new diversion alternatives for individuals who are mentally ill or drug dependent and would typically be jailed or imprisoned; 2) to develop a mentor network of exemplary diversion sites that can provide peer-to-peer assistance to jurisdictions seeking help in developing such programs; 3) to produce an online toolkit of resources that will be available to any jurisdiction wanting to develop such programs; 4) to highlight promising diversion programs and practices at two regional forums for up to 250 participants; and 5) to assess the nature and extent of prosecution-led diversion programming being used across the nation, using a national survey of prosecutors. Other issues addressed in this fact sheet are whether funding is available to jurisdictions that are planning, implementing, or evaluating such programs; the characteristics, selection, and funding of prosecutor-led diversion mentor sites; and how a jurisdiction can become one of the 16 jurisdictions that will receive intensive training and technical assistance.