Abstract
This project compares the Roseville Police Department (RPD) Juvenile Diversion Program against the principles of effective correctional intervention. Additionally, the project examined recidivism rates among program participants. Research on diversion provides inconsistent and widely varied findings as a result of the individuality of programming. Principles of effective intervention are evidence based principles that when implemented together have been proven to reduce recidivism. The three core principles are risk, need, and responsivity (RNR). The principles were used as a comparison tool to determine how many were being implemented by the RPD program. Interview responses from Roseville Police officers were used to assist in the comparison. The findings from the comparison show that RPD currently only adheres to 3 of the 15 current principles of effective intervention, with one additional principle from an earlier work. The core RNR principles were not being adhered to by the RPD program. There were 129 youth cited to the RPD diversion program from November 2011 to December 2012. The results of the descriptive analysis of the recidivism rates provided that only 19.4% of the youth recidivated within one year. Of the youth who recidivated, 60% committed more serious offenses. The researcher provided that in order to improve level of adherence to the RNR principles, RPD should implement three suggestions: have program staff attend STICS training, utilize a risk/needs assessment instrument, and create and maintain a program manual.