This study describes the demographics, education performance and post-secondary outcomes of Washington high school students who are enrolled in diversion programs, which are alternative options to sentencing justice-involved youth. We looked at 31,000 students and specifically focused on 9th to 12th grade students during the 2010-19 academic years.
The purpose of this study is to better understand and describe the population of students that are enrolled in diversion programs. We found that justice-involved students enrolled in these programs include students across different races/ethnicities, social and economic characteristics, and types of offense. Students also achieve varying educational outcomes.
While we don’t have enough data to compare students in diversion programs to students who were not enrolled in a diversion program, this report lays the foundation for us to compare the two groups in the future.
