Drug diversion schemes cut reoffending rates more than prosecution, study says | Police
Police-led drug diversion schemes that direct people away from the criminal justice system and into treatment and education services are far more effective than prosecution at reducing reoffending, according to a new analysis.
Researchers examined the outcomes of 13 British police forces and more than 62,000 crime cases over the past four years and found that people whose cases were handled through decriminalization-style diversionary schemes were a third less likely to reoffend than similar people prosecuted for drug possession.
Some police forces in England, particularly in Durham, the West Midlands and the Thames Valley, use formal diversionary programs for people caught in possession of drugs. However, many forces still take an officially law-and-order approach to illegal drug use, although today would-be criminals are not often sent to prison for simple possession offences.
Prof Alex Stevens, acting director of the University of Sheffield’s Center for Criminological Research, who led the research, said: “The evidence is now strong enough that all police forces can be confident about adopting and expanding diversionary schemes for people caught in possession of drugs.”
The researchers who conducted this four-year, first-of-its-kind study funded Supported by the Cabinet Office’s evaluation acceleration fund, police teams working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing are helping police forces across the country adopt police-led drug diversion.
Quantitative data was collected over four years from a group of people contacted by police forces between October 2021 and September 2022.
Commander Alison Heydari, NPCC’s commander for out-of-court resolutions (OOCR), said the study highlighted the effectiveness of diversion. “Through the ‘national OOCR strategy’, there is a clear commitment to ensuring that eligible people are consistently provided with appropriate alternatives to prosecution, helping to prevent re-offending whilst also addressing inequalities in outcomes,” he said.
But the researchers found that diversion was used far less than it might have been even in police forces with established diversion programs, with only a minority of eligible cases being diverted because officers chose not to divert eligible offenders. “Police forces now have the opportunity to reduce their costs and reduce pressure on the courts by using diversion more,” said Stevens, who left the government’s expert advisory council on drugs in 2019 due to “political scrutiny” of candidates. “This will require clear leadership, appropriate training and a culture change at street level.”
Jason Kew, a former DCI for Thames Valley police who led the development of the pre-arrest drug diversion scheme, said forces that integrated diversion schemes could go further and develop specialist routes for women.
“Getting this right means fewer women in custody, fewer children lost to the system and stronger, healthier communities,” said Kew, who is now a senior practice specialist at the Center for Justice Innovation. “The question is no longer whether diversion will work. What matters is how boldly we choose to develop it.”
The report also found that people in the poorest neighborhoods were subject to the strictest police control and least likely to be diverted, and that black people were less likely than white people to be diverted for similar crimes.
Prof Kojo Koram, from Loughborough University law school and author of The Next Fix: The Winners and Losers in the Future of Drugs, said: “At every stage of the drug policing process, from stop and search to arrest to sentencing, statistics show that black and minority ethnic people are punished at much higher rates than white people, despite similar rates of use.
“Diversion schemes are a first step towards moving people away from criminalisation, and are clearly needed when we look at our overcrowded prisons, but they are still a fairly tame policy initiative compared to the full decriminalization and regulation policies implemented in Europe and North America. Britain remains hopelessly behind the curve on drugs policy.”
In 2017, when diversionary plans were first officially acknowledged, a Home Office report acknowledged: “Overall, there is a lack of robust evidence on whether arrest and punishment acts as a deterrent to drug use.”
Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at the Transform Medicines Policy Foundation, said: “The guidance still feels like the government wants to reap the benefits of decriminalization without saying a word. Despite the obvious benefits of decriminalisation, it does nothing to tackle the harms of illicit trade. The choice is between holding the government accountable or keeping organized crime in check.”
