Difference Between Diversion and Supervised Release

Diversion vs Supervised Release

Diversion and supervised release are two systems of dealing with criminals. There are different justice systems in the world. It is often seen that first time offenders, when sentenced to jail, often become hardened and habitual offenders. They also feel ostracized in the society as they are branded as criminals as people have this habit of labeling a person as a criminal always if he has been convicted once. Once a criminal, always a criminal is what the common people’s thinking is. To avoid a person being labeled in such a manner, and to avoid pressure on courts that are already reeling under a deluge of cases, there is a practice called Diversion that is becoming popular. It is similar to supervised release in many ways. How ever, there are also differences between the two.

Diversion

Diversion prevents a person from carrying the stigma of being a criminal. This is a program that is managed by jail authorities, police and courts in unison. The only requirements are that the culprit must apologize and provide relief to those who have been his victims. He is also educated so that he does not repeat an offense in future. He is also supposed in engage in community work for some time and is advised to not keep contacts with persons who led him into committing the offense. Instead of sending an offender to jail, diversion serves as a program that intends to rehabilitate the person without making him carry the stigma of being a criminal. It has been seen that diversion has been fruitful and giving better results that if criminals were sentenced to jails. Once the culprit fulfills his part of the obligation, the courts takes a lenient view and lighten the charges or even drop them altogether. However if the criminal does not follow the requirements in totality, courts are free to sentence him to jail.

Supervised release

This is a popular program in justice systems all over the world. Also known as parole, the culprit who is serving prison is released under the supervision of the authorities if he has been maintaining a good conduct during his sentence. If he is away from drugs and alcohol and does not indulge in violent behavior in prison, he is released on compassionate grounds before the completion of the term. It is different from amnesty, and the culprit can again be booked if he indulges in criminal activity once released on parole. The criminal is under supervised release and his activities are monitored all the time. If he breaks any rules, he can be brought to book any time.