Jail diversion programs have been proposed for use with persons with mental
illnesses. While much support exists for these programs in theory, little
is known about their characteristics, the individuals they divert, or their
effectiveness. The current study focuses on identifying the characteristic
s of persons diverted through a court-based program in one midwestern city
and their outcomes during the first 2 months after diversion. Information o
n participants (n = 80) was gathered through detainee interviews, staff int
erviews, and record abstracts. Two factors appear to be important in divers
ion: (I) community risk and (2) availability of specialized programs for di
verted offenders. Demographic, clinical, and social context variables appea
r to influence diversion decisions. Overall, the diverted and nondiverted g
roups did approximately the same upon release, but one third of the nondive
rted group never got released during the follow-up.