Professor Adam Crawford, Co-Director of the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre, led a key roundtable discussion on the importance of listening to the voices of people with lived experience on September 24, 2025.
26 September 2025
The live-streamed event, “Diversion in practice: implications for police reform and culture change,” was hosted by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies in partnership with the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing and the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre. The event explored the benefits and challenges of using out-of-court resolutions and diversion schemes for vulnerable adults.
The discussion came at a crucial time, with effective diversion programmes being key to broader policing reforms. Research evidence has consistently shown that these approaches can reduce demand on police resources, enhance community safety, and lower reoffending rates. However, there has remained considerable variation in how these schemes are applied, particularly for adults, and a lack of clear evidence on which programmes were most effective, for whom, and under what circumstances. This knowledge gap presents a significant challenge to identifying and promoting best practices across the sector.
Professor Crawford and other experts presented the latest findings from ongoing research into the use of police-managed diversion. The event covered a range of critical questions and case studies, including emerging evidence on knife crime and domestic violence interventions, equity in the implementation of drug diversion schemes in England, and out of court resolutions, among other topics.
Posting about the event on LinkedIn, Professor Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay said:
We had insightful presentations and discussions at the ‘Diversion in Practice: Implications for Police Reform and Culture Change’ event hosted by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, delighted that Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing at the University of Birmingham continues this fruitful collaboration and builds new ones with Adam Crawford and his team. Was great to talk with my colleague Emily Evans (University of Birmingham) on highlights of our findings on Project CARA and the emerging evidence around an early intervention aimed at preventing knife crime (Op Divan) while getting a practitioner perspective from Heidi Lewis (NYP). Nadine Hendrie (University of Kent) presented their findings on the Police Drug diversion scheme and raised important issues around equity. It was good to know from Joy Doal (Anawim) how the New Chance has grown. Dr Alison Heydari PhD PhD (NPCC lead for OoCR) and Tina Macleod (NPCC) gave us an excellent landscape of the trailblazer forces that have the potential to transform diversion and Dr Thomas McNeil (JABBS Foundation) gave us glimpses of his report on Diversion in the West Midlands. Fionnuala Ratcliffe (Transform Justice) mentioned work around the victim survey they have conducted on what victims think about such programmes. Adam Crawford presented early findings on his team’s work on lived experiences with insights from Kelly Grehan (Revolving Doors). The wide ranging discussion included others deeply involved in making diversion work; Nick Jeffreys (Youth Endowment Fund) on the implementation side of the various diversion trials and programmes funded through them and Lib Peck on the evidence around Violence reduction in London and Darren Nicholas on the work done by Cranstoun. Thanks to our engaged online participants and Richard Garside and Liat Tuv for chairing and flawless organisation. There are further efficiency and equity issues to discuss and delighted to see Martine Lignon there to feedback into the ‘Is it a crime to be poor?’ (https://lnkd.in/ecvkYxWT) alliance. #diversion
Speaking about the event, Professor Crawford said:
“This event was a key opportunity to bring together and learn from the wide range of practice-based activity and research in the field of diversion. It enabled us to explore key opportunities and challenges for culture change and police reform in driving forward the use of evidence-based best practice in the use of out of court resolutions.
“Research demonstrates that there are clear benefits of effective diversion for both individuals and the wider community. But to succeed in effecting meaningful change, we must harness the data, build the evidence and listen to the voices of people with lived experience. These individuals can offer invaluable insights into what works, what the challenges are, and how we can best support those at risk of being drawn into the criminal justice system. Incorporating their perspectives is crucial for overcoming cultural and organisational barriers and for building an evidence base that truly reflects the reality on the ground.”