Washington Courts: News and Information

Supreme Court’s Minority and Justice Commission Publishes Report on Youth Diversion in Washington; Finds That Diversion Improves Outcomes for Justice-Impacted Youth and Improves Community Safety 

The Minority and Justice Commission's (MJC) Youth Justice Committee has published a new report on diversion practices in Washington State titled, "Statewide Youth Diversion Report 2025." The comprehensive report evaluates mechanisms, impacts, accessibility and disparities in the administration of youth criminal diversion in Washington State.

Diversion refers to any informal resolution that interrupts the ordinary, formal prosecution of a criminal matter. A common example is a diversion agreement, whereby an individual agrees to meet certain conditions, usually over a period of time, after which the prosecutor will agree not to prosecute the case or, if the case has been filed, will agree to dismiss the case. The focus of diversion is rehabilitation rather than punishment.

In 1996, 47% of all youth justice cases nationwide were handled informally, or diverted from the court system. In 2019, that number was 46%. The rate of diversion has remained low and flat for thirty years. In that same period, the evidence that diversion works — that it improves outcomes while decreasing racial and ethnic disparities — has greatly increased.

“We've seen in almost every study that we had at our disposal, youth diversion has shown tremendous promise or positive outcomes on both of the major metrics that we would evaluate all criminal justice policy,” Frank Thomas, a Senior Court Program Analyst for the MJC, said. “The first being that all evidence suggests that youth diversion actually improves community safety at a rate commensurate with, if not often better than traditional incarceration or punitive responses to crime in the first place.”

“Secondly, it's shown really strongly to improve the individual outcomes of the youth themselves,” Thomas said. “So not only reducing rates of recidivism relative to more traditional responses, but also where it's been measured or evaluated indicates that it's better for long term outcomes of well being.”

The report identifies key trends in diversion programs nationwide, features research on the positive outcomes of diversion on youth, identifies principals youth justice systems should adopt and operate under, and provides recommendations based around research, reform and investment into diversion programs.

The report is broken down into five sections.

Section I introduces the topic of diversion and defines common terminology used in diverted youth cases.

Section II reviews nationwide research on the outcomes of youth diversion, which generally shows positive outcomes for the individual youth and public safety for the wider community. The section also addresses nationwide efforts to increase diversion as an alternative to youth incarceration.

Section III examines the specific channels for funding diversion in Washington programs. It will compare that funding to the much higher cost of our carceral system, and it will identify barriers to increased diversion investment.

Section IV reviews statutory diversion data to examine barriers related to accessing diversion and racial and the presence of ethnic disparities in diversion. This section found there is limited and imprecise data available regarding the full scope of diversion programs in Washington.

Section V reviews youth diversion program frameworks focusing on how these frameworks address the needs of youth who might otherwise be subject to prosecution. The evidence supports a conclusion that addressing the root causes of crime by youth both improves the outcomes for that youth and offers more sustainable public safety for the rest of the community.

On April 22, the governor signed House Bill 1391, which requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to develop common definitions, outcome measures, and data collection methods for both informal and formal diversion programs with a report due on July 1, 2026 as recommended in the Youth Diversion Report.

The Minority and Justice Commission of the Supreme Court of the state of Washington’s mission is to ensure that all courts in the state of Washington remain free of bias so that justice might be adjudicated in a neutral and fair manner.

The Youth Justice Committee is a committee of the MJC with the mission to work with justice partners to focus attention, inquiry, and action on addressing bias and undoing institutional racism in the juvenile justice system and juvenile courts that allow for disparities for youth of color to persist.

The Washington State Minority and Justice Commission of the Supreme Court was established in 1990 by the Court to identify problems and make recommendations to ensure fair and equal treatment in the state courts for all parties, attorneys and court employees.

Contact: Administrative Office of the Courts Communications Officer Patric Haerle, Patric.Haerle@courts.wa.gov, 360-712-1892; Senior Court Program Analyst Frank Thomas, Frank.Thomas@courts.wa.gov; Court Program Specialist Molly Gough, MollyGough@courts.wa.gov.