This project explores the police use of out-of-court resolutions, specifically deferred prosecution schemes with vulnerable adults.
Deferred prosecution schemes allow for criminal charges to be suspended on condition that the individual fulfils an agreed programme to address the underlying causes of their offending behaviour and/or make reparations. The research has been shaped and informed by people with significant lived experience of criminal justice.
The project team will examine the benefits and challenges of using deferred prosecution as a form of diversion, focusing on two groups: women and care leavers. The study takes place in two English police force areas that have established diversion schemes.
The project will collect and analyse a range of data to better understand the value of delivery models, as well as the organisational, social and individual impacts that these schemes afford in diverting vulnerable adults from court.
Out of Court Resolutions (OoCRs) in England and Wales incorporate a range of strategies that aim to resolve an offence without the suspect, or victim, needing to go through court processes. Instead, the suspect may be asked to take part in another type of intervention, such as a treatment programme, mediation or community-based services. As the gateway to the criminal justice system, the British police provide a vital first point of contact, exercising discretion in deciding who gets diverted, released or referred for prosecution. Effectively, they control entry into the formal process through arrests, investigations and charging decisions, based on evidence and public interest.
The use of OoCRs has increased over the years often as a proportionate and effective response to so-called ‘low level crime’ designed to speed up and simplify the process. As evidenced by the recent Leveson Report (2025), support for diversion programmes has been growing. The need to address prison overcrowding and court backlogs has become a financial burden and political issue. Recycling vulnerable people through the criminal justice system creates huge family and societal costs and highlights the need for rehabilitation over criminalisation. By adopting a public health approach, diversion has the potential to be a cost-effective solution to dealing with low-risk and repeat offenders, with reoffending costing the UK economy £23bn annually (Revolving Doors 2025).
It is widely recognised, however, that the use of OoCRs has ‘evolved in a piecemeal and largely uncontrolled way’. The variable delivery of OoCRs is often informed by limited rigorous evaluation or research evidence of their effectiveness or wider impacts. Also, police-initiated diversion is not mandatory, even when an individual meets the criteria, and is inconsistently used, resulting in something of a postcode lottery.
Most OoCRs require an admission of guilt or acknowledgement of responsibility as a condition before diversion is offered and consent secured. While this encourages the acceptance of responsibility, for some groups, particularly ethnically minoritised and young people, ingrained mistrust in police and a reduced likelihood of pleading guilty, can exclude them from this type of support.
Deferred prosecution schemes allow for criminal charges to be suspended on condition that the individual fulfils an agreed programme. Criminal charges for the offences can be dropped and excluded from a criminal record, upon successful completion. Deferred prosecutions result in an Outcome 22. This Home Office code, intended to reflect where a diversionary intervention has been used in a case that does not meet the public interest test to take any further action, is not currently considered a positive outcome by His Majesty’s Inspectorate, despite their constructive use in diverting people away from future criminality.
This research project aims to contribute to best practice and evidence-informed use of police-initiated diversion, by exploring how the two participating police forces have implemented deferred prosecution schemes. Specifically, the research is focusing on two demographic groups which are often overlooked and yet known to be disproportionately affected when they encounter police and the criminal justice system: care leavers and vulnerable women.
This research project has been developed and informed by engaging with Revolving Doors – a national charity supporting individuals who have experienced repeated contact with criminal justice – and their lived experience members. Revolving Doors and their members will continue to be involved throughout the project.
This research aims to:
- Create a theory of change that can inform a holistic approach to developing and implementing police-initiated diversion at a national level.
- Explore the effects of police-initiated diversion through deferred prosecution on individuals, police forces and the wider justice system and identify what works best, for whom and under what conditions.
- Examine how current police-initiated diversion approaches understand and engage with vulnerable people, particularly women and care leavers.
The research seeks to understand what works, for whom and in which circumstances. Through a multiphase approach, the research will explain and understand the effects of the interactions between the mechanisms (interventions), the theories of change that inform them, the contexts in which they are applied, the implementation processes, and the outcomes.
Preparatory Stage 1: Mapping the Model and Theory of Change
The preparation phase will aim to:
(a) identify the components of police-initiated deferred prosecution across two police forces, their delivery and associated interventions; and
(b) specify the theories of change and evidence-based models that inform them.
To achieve these deliverables, the research team will engage with out of court resolution teams within each of the forces, as well as key stakeholders associated with processes. The team will thematically map referrals/interventions, unpicking similarities and differences. Literature underpinning models of police-initiated diversion across the two forces will also be explored, appraised and summarised.
Data in this phase will be collected through interviews and focus groups with police officers, staff and relevant stakeholders, with findings being used to map out referral pathways and the points at which key decisions are made. Perceived enablers and barriers will also be explored.
Stage 2: Lived Experience Journeys
Stage 2 centres upon understanding the journey of individuals who have been offered a police-initiated diversion, particularly women and care leavers. The team will analyse information about people who completed an intervention in the past year. Also, the researchers will engage with a group of people who have just started an intervention and track their journey through the completion of a scheme. This will involve accessing case file data as well as in-person engagements with individuals who agree to be part of the research process.
Stage 3: Opportunities to Enhance Best Practice
Through the two previous stages, opportunities to enhance best practice are likely to arise, with the research process capturing enablers and barriers along the way. To help embed emerging findings into practice, the research team will co-create best practice frameworks with professionals involved in the delivery of diversion programmes, as well as those with lived experience, to reflect on what messages, approaches and learnings should also be included. This stage will also involve a formal write up of all findings.
Revolving Doors Involvement
During the development of the outlined approach, the research team worked in collaboration with Revolving Doors, a charitable organisation which aims to improve services for those with multiple needs and in repeat contact with the criminal justice system. The team engaged with Revolving Doors members to understand perceptions on the design, delivery and impact of diversion and its potential for those with unmet social need, who had significant experience of criminal justice. As part of the Centre’s commitments to co-production, the research team will be consulting with Revolving Doors’ membership during the research journey, particularly when key findings start to emerge.
Lead investigator
- Professor Adam Crawford (University of York and University of Leeds)
Co-investigator
- Professor Dan Birks (University of Leeds)
Postdoctoral researchers
- Dr Natalie Higham-James (University of York)
- Dr Sarah Shorrock (University of Leeds)
- Dr Andrew Papworth (University of York)
Police use of diversion: The voices of people with lived experience of criminal justice
- Read the first of the team’s research summary reports “Police use of diversion: The voices of people with lived experience of criminal justice”.
