Developing and Evaluating

Diversion as an Alternative to Arrest.

Zero-tolerance policies and harsh disciplinary practices made schools one of the primary referral sources to the juvenile justice system, helping create and perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline. Seeking to dismantle the city's pipeline, the Philadelphia Police Department partnered with the School District of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, and other juvenile justice agencies in the city to develop and operate the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program. 
​
The Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program is a pre-arrest, school-based diversion program that was implemented city-wide in 2014. It diverts all first-time offending youth who commit qualifying, low-level offenses on school property from arrest and into community prevention services. 

Broadly, the Police School Diversion Program aims to keep youth in school and out of court. More specifically, the program represents an ambitious and shared vision among system partners to:

1. Substantially reduce the number of youth arrested in Philadelphia schools and referred to the justice system;
2. ​​Improve academic attendance and success by reducing the use of exclusionary discipline practices; 
3. Eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in school-based arrests and exclusionary school discipline practices; and
4. Provide students with access to services to address underlying needs and promote long-term well-being.

Evaluation of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program

A detailed summary of police, school, and service-related outcomes is available here.

Major Takeaways

• In the Diversion Program’s first five years, 2,036 students were spared the traumatic experience of an arrest and its many negative collateral consequences. 
• Arrested youth were 1.4 times more likely than diverted youth to have a subsequent arrest in the five years following their school-based incident.
• Arrested youth were 1.6 times more likely than diverted youth to be suspended from school in the year after their examined school-based incident.
• When social workers offered diverted youth and families voluntary services, 89% accepted them and received a referral to a local provider.
• 86% of school police officers reported strong agreement with the Diversion Program, and officers reported observing the program’s benefits to school safety.
• Program implementation saved stakeholders between $1.6 million and $1.9 million annually compared to prior school-based arrest practices. 

Funding Sources
Three federal grants from the U.S. Department of Justice supported the JJR&R Lab's evaluation of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program, including two grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2017-JF-FX-0055, 2014-JZ-FX-K003) and a grant from the National Institute of Justice (2017-CK-BX-0001).

Efforts related to the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program were also supported by a Stoneleigh Foundation fellowship awarded to Kevin Bethel, current Chief of Safety Officer for the School District of Philadelphia, former Philadelphia Deputy Police Commissioner, and former Senior Policy Advisor in the Juvenile Justice Research and Reform Lab.

Related Publications

Goldstein, N. E. S., NeMoyer, A., Le, T., Guo, S., Cole, L. M., Pollard, A., Kreimer, R., & Zhang, Z. (2021). Keeping kids in school through pre-arrest diversion: School disciplinary outcomes of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program. Law and Human Behavior, 45(6), 497-511.

Goldstein, N. E. S., Kreimer, R., Guo, S., Le, T., Cole, L. M., NeMoyer, A., Burke, S., Kikuchi, G., Thomas, K. & Zhang, F. (2021). Preventing school-based arrest and recidivism through pre-arrest diversion: The Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program. Law and Human Behavior, 45(2), 165-178.

Goldstein, N. E. S., Cole, L. M., Houck, M., Haney-Caron, E., Holliday, S. B., Kreimer, R., & Bethel, K. (2019). Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline: The Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program. Children and Youth Services Review, 101, 61-69.

​Heilbrun, K., Goldstein, N., DeMatteo, D., Newsham, R., Gale-Bentz, E., Cole, L., & Arnold, S. (2017). The sequential intercept model and juvenile justice: Review and prospectus. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 35, 319-336.

Daly, B. P., Hildenbrand, A. K., Haney-Caron, E., Goldstein, N. E. S. Galloway, M., & DeMatteo, D. (2016). Disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline: Strategies to reduce risk of school-based zero tolerance policies resulting in juvenile justice involvement. In K. Heilbrun, D. DeMatteo, & N. E. S. Goldstein (Eds.), APA handbook of psychology and juvenile justice (pp. 257-276). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 

NeMoyer, A., Le, T., Taylor, A., Pollard, A., Kreimer, R., Anjaria, N., Zhang, F., Kikuchi, G., Lattanzio, M., & Goldstein, N. E. S. (2023). Long-term arrest and school outcomes of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 29(4), 471-485. doi: 10.1037/law0000397.

NeMoyer, A., Mai, C., Kreimer, R., Le, T., Pollard, A., & Goldstein, N. E. S. (2023). Reducing agency and social costs by keeping kids in school and out of the justice system: A cost-benefit analysis of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 17, paac061. doi: 10.1093/police/paac061.

In the Media

• The Conversation - "Philadelphia reduces school-based arrests by 91% since 2013 – researchers explain the effects of keeping kids out of the legal system"
• Youth Radio - "Arrested Development: How Philly Stopped Locking Up Students"
• PBS NewsHour - "Philadelphia Reverses Course on 'Zero Tolerance' Discipline in Schools"
• Philadelphia Public School Notebook - "With Police Diversion, Student Arrests Plummet"
• TedxTalks - "Second Chances: Police Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline | Kevin Bethel"
• Washington Post - "This Former Philadelphia Cop Had an Incredibly Simple Plan to Keep Kids Out of Prison. Don't Arrest Them"
• USA Today - "Juvenile Justice Summit Discusses Alternative Methods to Youth Arrests" 
• The Inquirer - "How a Philly Cop Broke the School-to-Prison Pipeline"
• The Huffington Post - "As Awareness of the School-to-Prison Pipeline Rises, Some Schools Rethink the Role of Police"​
• CBS Philly - "Praise For New Diversionary Program for Phila. School Kids"

Related Links