Diversion works

New research has found that turning people away from the criminal justice system means they are far less likely to reoffend compared to other court outcomes.

People who receive a diversion plan instead of being charged in court are half as likely to reoffend, according to new research that proves the effectiveness of turning individuals away from the criminal justice system.

A new report by the Sentencing Advisory Council investigated the use of diversion plans in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria in the decade from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2021.

It found that by giving a person the chance to avoid a criminal conviction by following certain conditions, such as good behaviour and providing compensation, they are far less likely to reoffend.

The report found that nearly 51,000 people received a diversion plan in the last decade, and that 93 per cent of these people successfully completed these programs.

Of these people, just over 20 per cent went on to reoffend at some stage in the following five years, compared to about 40 per cent of those who receive other court outcomes.

“This report confirms what many people working in the justice system already know from their own personal experience: diversion works,” Sentencing Advisory Council CEO Dr Paul McGorrery said.

“It has become an increasingly common outcome of criminal proceedings in Victoria. It has consistently maintained exceptionally high successful completion rates. And people receiving diersion plans are half as likely to reoffend as people receiving other court outcomes.”

The criminal justice diversion program in the Magistrates’ Court requires a person to comply with a range of conditions for 12 months. If they do so, they can avoid having a criminal record for their offending.

These plans are mostly only available for first-time offenders, and for relatively low-level offending. To access the pre-plea program, the individual must first acknowledge responsibility for the offending, and the consent from the prosecution and defendant must be obtained.

The program was launched as a trial in 1997, and became available statewide in 2001.

The use of diversion has increased steadily across the last decade, with the proportion of all cases in the Magistrates’ Court increasing from 5.4 percent in 2011-12 to 6.6 percent in 2020-21.

Despite this increase, completion rates have continued to be above 90 percent in recent years.

Among conditions that can be imposed as part of a diversion plan are apologising to the victim, compensating them, completing an educational course, undertaking treatment or counselling and donating to a charity.

In the last 10 years, more than $9 million has been donated across 30,000 diversion plans, and victims of crime have been compensated more than $5.5 million.

“The cost-effectiveness of diversion plans, coupled with lower reoffending rates, suggests that diversion plans have the potential to reduce both the human and financial costs of crime to all Victorians,” Dr McGorrery said.

“Collectively, these findings offer potent support for the effectiveness of diversion plans in appropriate cases.”

The Sentencing Advisory Council report included Victoria Police’s diversion matrix, which is used to determine whether a diversion plan will be approved.

The matrix outlines four offences where further consideration is required before a diversion plan is recommended: firearm offences, offences where the accused is a private security operator or private security business owners, liquor licence offences and emergency worker harm offences.

The matrix then groups offences and future offending risk into three categories: minor, medium and major.

It defines “major” offending as including sex offences, an offence with a mandatory penalty and any offence involving a serious injury. Medium offences are defined as all other indictable offences, while minor offences are any summary offences. 

The matrix then defines a major reoffending risk if the individual has been found guilty by a court within the last five years, a medium risk if they have previously been subject to a diversion plan, has been processed by way of a penalty notice or has a prior finding of guilt from more than five years ago.

A minor reoffending risk is defined as when the accused has no court priors.

According to Victoria Police’s matrix, a diversion plan is “suitable” when it comes to minor offence seriousness coupled with minor future offending risk. It is then “possible suitable” in terms of minor offending with medium or major future offending risk, or medium offending with medium or minor future offending risk.

A diversion plan is generally not suitable for medium offending with major future offending risk, or major offending with medium or minor future offending risk.

Victoria Police says that a diversion plan is not suitable for major offence seriousness along with major future offending risk.