One unintended consequence of juvenile diversion may be that diversion programs widen the net of justice system control, rather than divert youth from the system. This issue was examined in a group of youths who were randomly assigned to either the Adolescent Diversion Project (ADP) or to a control group who received services as usual by the court…

The lack of rigorous evaluations and variations in operation of adolescent diversion programs has led to a state of confusion concerning the effects of diversion. In a program at Michigan State University, youths referred to the project from the juvenile court are randomly assigned to undergraduates who are trained and supervised by project…

The Adolescent Diversion Project, an alternative to court processing for juvenile offenders, employs intervention strategies of behavioral contracting and advocacy. Youth (N=73) were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) the control group receiving usual court treatment; (2) the family condition involving a trained undergraduate volunteer who…