January, MTCT hosted a Diversion Summit at the QEII centre in Westminster. Assessing our speakers bios, we calculated over 500 years of “admitted” experience. We had not doubt that the actual years of experience was double this.
We came together with one mission - to understand how to build a better society by changing the focus of the criminal justice system to promote diversion from court.
Andy Cooke QPM1 kicked off the day with three key questions in his key-note speech
1. What is the value of diversion?
2. How well are these options being used?
3. What action can be being taken to create a better future?
1. What is the value of diversion?
Andy accepted our current system is not very good at reducing reoffending. Prison isn’t effective. It is crucial we follow what works, follow the evidence.
Out of court diversion is not a soft option. Diversion offers a more effective way of dealing with many offenders, more so for young offenders. Justice is effective when delivered at speed and certainty. Out of court disposal provides this. He referenced how time to court had more than doubled in youth cases.
Diversion is, in Andy’s opinion, an essential element of an effective justice system.
2. How well are these options being used?
He considered it unfortunate that were neither used often enough, nor well enough. Diversion had dropped by half over recent years. It had not only dropped by half, but an element of “postcode lottery” has developed with some forces using more than others. Andy welcomed the new two-tier framework.
“I am a big supporter” of diversion he explained. Andy recognised however that it wasn’t about diversion for diversion's sake. Quality was critical. He referenced evidence many times, but also recognised that we can only follow the evidence, where such evidence exists, and more work was now needed to build the evidence base.
3. What action is being taken to create a better future?
Andy used his key-note address and the summit to implore everybody present to go back to their organisations, and do what they could to promote diversion and to support better outcomes for society.
Following Andy, Penelope Gibbs, director of Transform Justice2 (who also writes in this 7th edition of FKCL’s magazine) talked about the narrative around Out of Court Disposals (OOCD). She showed that diversion had fallen dramatically over the last 12 years and how the data varies across the country. She reflects the success of diversion, versus the headlines that appear regularly. Her evidence showed that almost half of officers want to use diversion more often. She enlightened the audience about how the public views the different terminology around diversion. Her key advice was to “use plain English - avoid jargon”.
Throughout the day we had insightful panels on a number of key topics3:
Throughout the day the delegates heard “Lightning Talks” from those organisations that deliver life changing intervention programmes. We heard from Conroy Harris at Band of Brothers12. We learnt how his programme connects young men with older local men in the community over a three month programme. Young men learning directly from older men. Once you're in the band, you never leave! Emma Hazan from the Hampton Trust13 talked about the transformational benefits on suitable offenders of domestic abuse through the CARA (Cautioning And Relationship Abuse) programme. CARA is an excellent example of where the evidence supports diversion programmes. We benefitted to the experience of Lucy Jaffe, director of Why Me14, a Restorative Justice (RJ) provider. Lucy’s organisation brings together “harmed and harmer” to understand harm caused and how to avoid further harm. Lucy gave a personal insight into the impact of crime and practical tips on promoting RJ in each region.
Gavin Stephens, about to take up his new role as Chair of the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC)15, gave the closing key note speech. Gavin talked about his experience of implementing diversion programmes in Surrey. How they started small and grew the range of services on offer. He emphasised the work and the benefits of working with children and young people.
His advice was threefold:
He emphasised the importance of sticking to these principles even when times are tough. “I will always be an advocate for this type of work”.
The day was wrapped up by Make Time Count’s Chair Tim Godwin, former Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. Tim raised the spirits of a tired room with tales about the problems of setting unrealistic targets, and the adverse behaviour this can drive. He also talked about how reducing crime is possible, referencing how successfully previous incarnations or reassurance policing, working in partnership with the community, had had a positive impact of reducing crime. “You’ve lifted my mood”, he said. Through the work now being done, we have got a headstart on what his teams were pushing back then, as now we have the technology, the data and the evidence. “Do not give in” he said. An energetic end to what was an exhausting day.
The team at Make Time Count was overwhelmed by the positive feedback from the day. Delegates enjoyed the format, and loved hearing the Lightning Talks, and were certainly left wanting to hear more. We look forward to Diversion 2024.
Short and long versions of all the main sessions can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmPkp4BorneRjg3dVM6QLRM1Y4FtNmjua
Jonathan Ley, Founder and CEO, Make Time Count
Further Reading
[1] Former Chief Constable, now His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)
[2] https://www.transformjustice.org.uk
[3] See the full Diversion Summit agenda and speakers here.
[4] Success factors for diversion Chris Baker, Leicestershire Police; Katie Harber, Metropolitan Police; Jim Holmes, Thames Valley Police
[5] Drugs diversion & solutions Jason Kew, Centre for Justice Innovation https://justiceinnovation.org/aboutcji ; Alex Stevens, Kent University; Jane Bailey, West Midlands Police
[6] Vulnerabilities in diversion & solutions Ben Martin, Cambridgeshire Police; Professor Eddie Kane, Centre for Health and Justice, https://www.centerforhealthandjustice.org ; Stan Gilmour, Thames Valley Police
[7] Racial disparities in diversion Bami Jolaoso, Centre for Justice Innovation https://justiceinnovation.org/aboutcji ; James Davidson, Sussex Police; Shade Abiodun, THB Legal, https://thblegal.com
[8] Deferred prosecution and outcome 22 Sarah Carlsen, Devon & Cornwall Police; Andrew Crowe, Durham Checkpoint https://justiceinnovation.org/project/checkpoint ; Aelfwynn Sampson, Northumbria Police; and Dr Peter Neyroud CBE QPM, The Police Executive Programme at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. Dr Neyroud is also an Associate Professor in Evidence-Based Policing ,and the Director of the M.St. Degree in Applied Criminology and Police Management (Police Executive Programme) at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, and see https://www.cambridge-ebp.co.uk .
[9] Best practice in diverting under 18s & solutions David Apparicio MBE, Chrysalis Programme: Bruce Houlder, Founder Fighting Knife Crime-London www.fightingknifecrime.london : Alison Sabaroche, Youth Justice Service, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
[10] Best practice in diverting women & solutions Roger McMillan, Metropolitan Police; Claire Johns, St Giles Trust
https://www.stgilestrust.org.uk ; Leeane Spiller, Surrey Women's Centre https://www.womenssupportcentresurrey.org.uk
[11] Comparative approaches Jac Charlier, PTACC https://ptaccollaborative.org ; Pav Dhaliwal and Anthony Egunjobi, Revolving Doors https://revolving-doors.org.uk ; Niven Rennie, Hope Collective http://www.hopecollectiveuk.org
[12] https://abandofbrothers.org.uk
[13] https://hamptontrust.org.uk/program/cara/
