Community Views on Prosecutor-Led Diversion Programs in Monroe County, Indiana

Abstract

Diversion programs in the criminal justice system provide alternatives to traditional criminal justice processing. Prosecutor-led diversion programs are designed to reduce the harmful impacts of conviction while reserving court resources for more serious cases. Building on the results of a 2021 pilot project evaluating racial and ethnic disparities across several stages of decisionmaking for diversion programs in the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO), a team including the MCPO, the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office (LCPO), the Monroe County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and researchers at Indiana University received funding from Arnold Ventures to conduct a study of prosecutorial decisionmaking for traffic and misdemeanor cases. The study aimed to document racial and ethnic disparities, assess local diversion policy and practices, and provide public-facing data to promote transparency and accountability. The IU research team of criminal justice experts from the O’Neill School and the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at IU Bloomington collected data from administrative records for Monroe and Lake Counties and qualitative data from interviews and focus groups conducted in Monroe County. This brief focuses on the data gathered from Monroe County diversion program participants interviewed or engaged in focus groups for the project.