Criminal courts have the jurisdiction of determining all the criminal cases at their disposal. Nevertheless, the courts may opt to diversionary tactics whereby they halt or suspend formal criminal proceedings of a person conditioned on some form of counter performance by the defendant. This jurisdiction mostly in cases whereby proceeding f the cases to full trial may lead to more harm than good (Schmalleger & Smykla, n.d.). It is also worth noting that if all criminal cases are proceeded to full trial may lead to overutilization of judicial resources which is quite expensive.’

Probation is one of the diversionary tactics common in the juvenile justice system.  This refers to the conditional release of a convicted offender into the community and is keenly supervised by a probation officer. Probation is mainly applied in those cases involving first time offenders and other minor criminals whose criminal acts have little or no public interest. Under such circumstances, the offender is taken through a diversion scheme where the underlying causes of crime are dealt with (Schmalleger & Smykla, n.d.). In most cases the convicts undergo counseling, treatment and other correction programs as stipulated by the justice system.

Diversion is in most cases applied to save the young, female offenders, people addicted to alcoholism and other substance abuse. This practice has several benefits as it gives the judicial system time to deal with other serious offences. It also plays a great role in reforming the offenders to better people. By so doing, diversion provides an appropriate vehicle for restitution to communities and victims of crime. It is also noting that the experience and stigma of formal arrest, trial and conviction can actually encourage more criminal behavior (Schmalleger & Smykla, n.d.). Just in case an offender fails to complete the probation program, then the probation officer has the obligation of making an arrest and criminal proceedings will take off. Revocation is another action carried out in case of the violation of the probation conditions.

References

Schmalleger, F., & Smykla, J. (n.d.). Corrections in the 21st century (Seventh ed.).

 
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