A welcome diversion

A welcome diversion - diversion schemes

Our prisons are in crisis and we need to take a whole system approach to managing it, said Darren Nicholas, assistant director of services at Cranstoun. The options of diversion and deflection provided value for money, but they also offered ‘better and more effective ways to bring down offending rates’.

Diversion schemes were about making sure people did not enter the criminal justice system but got the treatment and support they needed, ‘with excellent harm reduction and support’ along the way. They also saved many hours of police time. ‘We need to make it as easy as possible for officers to use diversion,’ said Nicholas. ‘It can be done at different – and all – points.’

Pre-arrest referrals or out of court resolutions (OoCRs) came in different shapes and sizes – and with 75 per cent of court cases resulting in a fine of £200 or less, they offered a range of more viable alternatives. These included deferral – where someone apprehended for a ‘low-level’ offence such as drug possession was given the option of entering a treatment or education programme rather than entering the criminal justice system via arrest and court proceedings – and deflection, where a police officer could use their interaction with an individual to suggest potential resources and positive actions in a situation where no official action was taken.

OoCRs offered huge benefits for both the individual and the wider population, said Nicholas. They provided an opportunity to engage with education and services and could help to avoid a criminal record and potentially a prison sentence with all its negative impacts.

There was also a significant opportunity for expanding workplace diversion schemes, he added. Companies in several sectors regularly drug tested employees without having a clear plan on how to deal with the results of a positive test. Offering access to treatment and education as an alternative to dismissal would benefit everyone involved.

police-led drug diversion schemesOpportunity knocks
Diversion also had an important role for people currently in the criminal justice system, explained Emma Rimell, psychosocial service manager at HMP Birmingham. Prison should go beyond punishment and was a real opportunity to help people engage with education, treatment and social services. Instead of people becoming institutionalised, it was ‘an opportunity with a captive audience for meaningful interventions’.

Overcrowded jails, the lack of specialist wings and the condition of many prisons made this difficult, especially when working with prisoners on remand – ‘a forgotten cohort’. ‘It can be disruptive for them and there’s less opportunity for meaningful intervention with limited time in custody,’ she said. With the high risk of overdose and reoffending immediately after release, continuity of care – with integrated pathways – was crucial.

She acknowledged the many challenges but, given the high incidence of overdose after release and levels of reoffending, stressed the importance of trying to engage prisoners with treatment services and mutual aid. ‘It’s important that a rehab culture is taken on board by everyone in the prison setting,’ she said. A positive environment should reflect ‘fair and just decision-making’ but also extend to wellbeing initiatives and social support networks with friends and family.

There were other factors to consider: being in a prison not close to home made follow-up difficult and women’s needs were also different. Living conditions in some prisons were inhumane. ‘So do we invest in prisons, or divert?’ she asked.

criminal justiceConsider the evidence
‘Diversion is evidence based,’ said former deputy chief constable for Lincolnshire, Jason Harwin. ‘It’s not just about saving money, it’s about a better outcome for the individual. We should be doing more of it, not less – it’s just about how we do it.’

There was currently a ‘postcode lottery’, he said, with some areas working more proactively than others to deliver OoCRs. This could result in differing outcomes for the same offence.

There were additional challenges with the culture surrounding diversion – ‘media reports that this is rubbish, that we’re letting people off’. ‘The scheme may not be perfect but what is right are the interventions and support,’ he said. A report due to be published by next March would help to shape diversion. Collaboration and innovation were key to making sure initiatives were not just police led, and this required ‘a whole system, evidence-informed approach’.

In a later session, Dr Matthew Bacon of Sheffield University, who had been evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of police-led drug diversion (PDD) schemes for drug-involved suspects, highlighted that there needed to be a whole system, evidence-based approach beyond merely counting the number of officers. One of the main challenges was convincing the public of the benefits of a scheme that was too often described as being ‘soft on crime’.

diversion schemesA new way?
The premise of deflection was looking at what happened when you don’t do it, said Jac Charlier, of TASC’s Center for Health and Justice in the US. With likelihood of overdose, death, a crisis, an arrest, deflection gave an opportunity of ‘flipping the script’.

Deflection was increasingly used in the USA in situations where arrest was possible but not mandatory – 60-80 per cent of police interactions in the USA resulted in no action. Having a positive intervention at this stage created an ‘upstream approach’, said Charlier, and focusing on prevention instead of crisis management was better, faster and cheaper, benefiting everyone concerned. The approach was community led, providing a gateway to services.

Charlier stressed that the approach was made up of ‘one tenth police, nine tenths you’, but the link between drugs and criminal behaviour meant that the police were often the first contact. ‘This is a data-based reality – police will be involved, neighbours will call the cops,’ he said. ‘History is that they arrest you, but this offers a new way. We are not saying that we should make police public health workers.’

Comments from the conference audience reflected some strong concern about the police role. ‘The UK has a problem in that stop and search for drugs went up to the highest rate since 2012,’ said Niamh Eastwood of Release. ‘So there’s a problem with suggesting police move further into the community. Extending the role of police beyond diversion is deeply concerning.’

‘The police aren’t culturally humble – they don’t understand the issues,’ said Aaron Anthony, a youth justice worker in London. ‘When kids fight in school the police are involved. We don’t feel like police want us to be safe, and we need to address this first.’

diversion and deflectionChanging attitudes
This culture was examined in a later session by Josh Torrance, research associate at the University of Bristol. While improved efficiency was one of the key drivers for diversion, there had also been a change in attitude among police that reflected wider society, he said. His research showed that newer, younger police officers had a different outlook – a move away from paternalism to a more progressive approach. This suggested a change in perceived role, from crime fighting to protecting vulnerable individuals.

He had encountered several officers who had personal experience of a family member with drug issues, or who had witnessed overdoses and problems faced by people using drugs. Talking about the overdose of a local man, one officer said he regretted just giving him a caution and wished he could have done something to help. Another said he had not confiscated drugs from someone he saw injecting as ‘he will just go and commit another crime to buy more.’

The schemes were not a ‘silver bullet’ and the opportunity for interaction and building relationships should not be overplayed, said Torrance. Most individuals just wanted to accept the OoCR and go. Dealing with the police was still a stressful situation whether you were being arrested or not, and people did not want to hang around for a chat.

But he believed that a key factor in the scheme’s success was to ‘make the process simpler and easier than what was done previously’. To this end, Cranstoun had been partnering with the technology social enterprise Make Time Count to help officers make a referral in minutes, rather than the hours taken up by processing a traditional arrest. Working with five police forces, they had co-designed a platform that made it quick and easy for an officer to refer someone to a service on the spot, and also supported the individual by providing updates and reminders for appointments and key dates.

‘We need to do away with sending letters and use the technology that people have in their pocket,’ said CEO and founder Jonathan Ley. ‘If the dentist and pizza delivery service can send you text reminders there’s no reason that the criminal justice system can’t do this too.’

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