diversion opportunities
Diversion is “an attempt to divert, or channel out, youthful offenders from the juvenile justice system” (Bynum and Thompson, 1996:430). The concept of
diversion is based on the theory that processing certain youth through the juvenile justice system may do more harm than good (Lundman, 1993). The basis
of the diversion argument is that courts may inadvertently stigmatize some youth for having committed relatively petty acts that might best be handled
outside the formal system. In part, diversion programs are also designed to ameliorate the problem of overburdened juvenile courts and overcrowded
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