diversion

This report was commissioned by the Scottish Government as a result of concerns raised by the diversion working group of the Pre-Disposal Programme Implementation Board. The numbers of cases diverted from prosecution have fallen in recent years (2006 onwards) and it was felt there was a need to investigate the issue further.

To facilitate this, the Scottish Government requested that the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) undertake a small-scale research study on the use of social work related diversion schemes by Procurators Fiscal in Scotland.

Report assessing the performance of Sacro's Restorative Justice Diversion from Prosecution services. It identifies areas of service delivery which could be improved and asks what the key messages about the services are.

Report describing the obstacles to court diversion schemes for offenders with mental health problems in England and Wales and arguing that early and more structured interventions by the health care and justice systems would improve care and reduce the cost of crime. It identifies examples of good practice in this area in England and Wales and points to the potential of a new model in mental health courts.

Report providing a profile of the population detained in medium and high secure hospitals in England. It also considers issues such as are forensic services an appropriate form of diversion and would social, community-based, interventions be more appropriate and cost-effective?

Report assessing the case for diversion for offenders with mental health problems from a value for money viewpoint. It concludes from the evidence that well-designed arrangements for diversion have the potential to produce many benefits such as cost and efficiency savings within the criminal justice system and improvements in mental health.

Edition of "All in the mind" which discusses the Bradley Report on mental health problems in prisons. Guests Sean Duggan, Linda Bryant and Sharon Bowman examine different approaches to the problem such as making greater use of diversion schemes.

Report presenting the findings of a review which aimed to provide both an overview of mental health provision in London's prisons and an appreciation of the issues confronting those responsible for providing prison mental health services.

The Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) is one of 12 options (‘requirements’) available to sentencers when constructing a Community Order or a Suspended Sentence Order. The MHTR can be given to an offender with mental health problems who does not require immediate compulsory hospital admission under the Mental Health Act. If they give their consent, the MHTR requires them to receive mental health treatment for a specified period.

This briefing paper examines the provision of mental health care in the criminal justice system. It looks at what has been achieved to date and identifies priorities for further work. It starts with an overview of the prison population, looking at ethnicity, gender, young people and Imprisonment for Public Protection.

The section on mental health care in prison covers: identifying mental health problems; transfer to NHS care; primary mental health care; dual diagnosis; personality disorders. Alternatives to imprisonment including diversion and community sentences are discussed.

In 1998 Labour made significant reforms to the youth justice system. A decade later these have failed to reduce offending. This report proposes ways in which the youth justice system could reduce offending, as well as ways of creating public confidence in the system. Contents include: why we need a new approach to youth justice; a tale of two targets - why a new approach is needed; objectives, barriers to, and new principles of youth justice; can a new direction be preventative?; will the public support popular preventionism?