Court Diversion Flashcards
What is liaison and diversion
Liaison and Diversion (L&D) services identify people who have mental health, learning disability, substance misuse or other vulnerabilities when they first come into contact with the criminal justice system (CJS) as suspects, defendants or offenders.
Engagement with services is voluntary (outside of specific circumstances related to safeguarding concerns).
what does liaison and diversion do?
identify
The service can then support people through the early stages of criminal system pathway,
Refer them for appropriate health or social care or enable them to be diverted away from the criminal justice system into a more appropriate setting, if required.
what is the aim of liaison and diversion?
L&D services aim to improve overall health outcomes for people and to support people in the reduction of re-offending.
It also aims to identify vulnerabilities in people earlier on which reduces the likelihood that people will reach a crisis-point and helps to ensure the right support can be put in place from the start.
what was the Bradley report (Bradley, 2009)?
Although the high level of vulnerabilities in prison and non-custodial populations has long been known about, the publication of Lord Bradley’s 2009 review of service provision for people with mental health problems and learning disabilities in the CJS in England and Wales stimulated considerable focus on the health inequalities experienced by this group (Bradley 2009).
Bradley (2009) drew attention to the considerable gap between the mental and physical health of people in contact with the CJS and the general population.
As contact with police and custodial environments is known to exacerbate mental health and other vulnerabilities, create stigmas and preclude access to adequate services to support their needs, Bradley asserted that every opportunity should be taken to divert people from the CJS. The report made 82 recommendations, including that a national Liaison and Diversion (L&D) model be created – whereas previously there had been a patchwork of locally-developed L&D services.
what is liaison?
Liaison is regarded as a form of diversion, particularly in the outcome sense (i.e., steering people away from crime and towards better mental health; Parsonage, 2009) through ensuring open communication between all parties in the process.
what is diversion?
It can be seen as an ‘outcome’ or as a ‘process’. Diversion in the former sense relates to an intended set of aims or objectives, for example reducing re-offending and improving mental health, while diversion in the latter sense refers to the activities and interventions which are used to achieve the desired objectives.
A further distinction is between diversion away from something and diversion towards something else. Diversion as an outcome is generally taken to mean diverting someone away from criminal activity and towards improved mental health and a better overall quality of life. Diversion as a process means diverting someone away from the CJS or from prison and towards community-based mental health treatment and other support services.
Finally, there is a distinction between diversion from the CJS and diversion within the CJS. The initial focus of diversion schemes in this country was largely on taking prisoners with severe mental illness out of the CJS altogether and into hospital. However, only a minority of offenders with mental health problems are sufficiently ill to require hospital treatment and so increasing attention is now given to diversion within the CJS, particularly from options which involve the use of custody to sentences which allow supporting mental health care to be provided to offenders in the community.
what are the main elements of L&D?
Identification,
Screening,
Assessment
Referral to other services.
what is identification?
Criminal justice agencies working at the Police and Courts stages of the pathway are trained to recognise possible signs of vulnerability in people when they first meet them.
They then alert their local L&D service about the person.
what is screening?
Once someone is identified as having a potential vulnerability, the L&D practitioner can go through screening questions to identify the need, level of risk and urgency presented.
It also helps determine whether further assessment is required.
what is assessment?
Using a trauma-informed approach and approved screening and assessment tools an L&D practitioner will undertake a more detailed assessment of the person’s vulnerability.
This provides more information on a person’s needs and also whether they should be referred on for treatment or further support.
what is referral?
The L&D practitioner may refer someone to appropriate mainstream health and social care services or other relevant interventions and support services that can help.
A person is also supported to attend their first appointment with any new services and the outcomes of referrals are recorded.
L&D services will also provide a route to treatment for people whose offending behaviour is linked to their illness or vulnerability.
what is outreach?
Multi-disciplinary teams, including support time recovery workers and peer support workers, will work holistically with people in community settings during the currency of any criminal proceedings, including addressing issues such as housing and financial advice (NHS England 2019).
