Pretrial Diversion Programs

Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems. The bill requires a district attorney's office, or the office's designee, to consider the use of a juvenile diversion program (program) to prevent a juvenile who demonstrates behaviors or symptoms consistent with an intellectual and developmental disability, a mental or behavioral health issue, or a lack of mental capacity from further involvement in formal delinquency proceedings.

Current law allows programs to use the results of an approved and validated assessment tool to identify the appropriate diversion services a juvenile may need and the professionals who may provide the services. The bill adds behavioral health services and services for juveniles with developmental disabilities to the types of services a juvenile may need and adds behavioral health treatment providers and providers who offer services to juveniles with developmental disabilities to the list of professionals who may provide the appropriate diversion services.

If a defendant's competency is raised or a defendant is found incompetent to proceed, the bill allows the defendant to enter into a diversion agreement with the consent of the district attorney and the court if the court finds that the defendant has the ability to participate and is advised of the potential consequences of failure to comply. The defendant's entrance into the diversion agreement does not waive the issue of competency to stand trial if there is a violation of the diversion agreement and proceedings on the charges resume. The diversion agreement alone is not evidence of competency.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)