The Effect of Youth Diversion Programs on Recidivism

By Holly Wilson, R. Hoge. 2013

190 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Pre- and postcharge diversion programs have been used as a formal intervention strategy for youth offenders since the 1970s. This meta-analysis was conducted to shed some light on whether diversion reduces recidivism at a greater rate than traditional justice system processing and to explore aspects of diversion programs associated with greater reductions in recidivism. Forty-five diversion evaluation studies reporting on 73 programs were included in the meta-analysis. The results indicated that diversion is more effective in reducing recidivism than conventional judicial interventions. Moderator analysis revealed that both study- and program-level variables influenced program effectiveness. Of particular note was the relationship between program-level variables (e.g., referral level) and the risk level targeted by programs (e.g., low or medium/high). Further research is required implementing strong research designs and exploring the role of risk level on youth diversion effectiveness.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c00aee15c58695fbe3bcc1a2df9b3b8ce14bfed8

Citations in the corpus

• Can At-Risk Youth Be Diverted From Crime? (2016, unknown): “Two recent meta-analyses conducted by Wilson and Hoge (2013) and Schwalbe, gearing, MacKenzie, Brewer, and Ibrahim (2012) summarized findings from evaluations of diversion programs.”