If you're in custody , the court worker can meet with you in custody at the courthouse. If your charges are eligible for diversion and you're in custody but the Indigenous court worker isn't available until a certain day, the Crown and court should take that into account when considering your bail.
In some areas, the court might want you to address bail before deciding if you're eligible for Indigenous diversion. If the courthouse doesn't have an Indigenous diversion program and you don't have a lawyer, speak to duty counsel or the Crown.
Ask if you can negotiate an informal diversion based on the type of crime you have been charged with and your Indigenous identity. In many cases, the Indigenous court worker can help you to set this up. If the Crown agrees to an informal diversion, you will have to agree to do things that show you have accepted responsibility.
This can include:. You might need to come back to court a few times to report on how you are doing with your informal diversion until it is completed. This process is referred to as the Diversion program. It is essentially a way to have criminal charges against the accused diverted and resolved via a specific program. It is an alternative to prosecution for the Crown. It allows the accused to avoid a criminal record, taking some responsibility for their offence without officially admitting their guilt.
While Diversion programs vary considerably what all Diversion programs have in common is that they are an alternative to prosecution. It is an acknowledgment by the Crown that not all criminal charges are serious enough to warrant a guilty plea or trial proceedings.
It can be seen as example of restorative justice, allowing for a person accused of an offence that hurts their community to participate in a program that benefits their community or their existence within their community. How is eligibility for Diversion determined? Once you have been charged a Crown will assess your matter.
They will screen the case against you and your criminal background to assess your eligibility for Diversion. For the accused to be allowed to participate in Diversion the Crown must consent. Eligibility is the decision of the Crown and cannot be determined by a Justice of the Peace or a Judge.
Diversion is typically offered in relation to minor offences for accused who have no criminal record or have never been offered diversion in the past. These programs offer some promise in providing a true alternative to incarceration. Diversion programs are offered at different points in criminal justice processing. There are pre-charge police diversion programs, post-charge programs and diversion from prison at the point of sentencing.
Evaluations of police diversion programs and programs under the control of prosecutors tend to find a net-widening effect. Formalizing diversion at the police level often means the recording of contacts that follow the offender and could subsequently be used to obtain a more severe sanction.
In post-charge diversion or deferred prosecution programs a referral may be made to an intensive program when the prosecutor feels that the likelihood of obtaining a conviction is low. From the few studies that provided post-program follow-up with comparison groups, there is little evidence of an impact on recidivism. Mental health diversion is when the Crown agrees to withdraw your charges if you show that you're effectively dealing with your mental health issues.
This often means that you participate in a program through the mental health court or you get mental health treatment. Mental health diversion is voluntary. The Crown can't force you to agree. If you prefer the regular court process, you can say no to mental health diversion. Some people prefer the regular court process because it is usually faster. A lawyer can tell you which process is better in your case. If you agree to participate in mental health diversion , you don't have to plead guilty or have a trial.
But you must admit that you have a mental health issue. And you must also agree to take responsibility for the crime you're charged with.
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