Pretrial diversion allows resources to be focused on more serious crimes and can help to address jail overcrowding.
Whether you are paying for your own criminal defense lawyer or have been assigned a public defender, they will have to help you through the application process.
Pretrial diversion programs redirect certain, usually first time, offenders away from the jailhouse and back into the community, often with community service as part of the requirements to complete the program.
Georgia law allows each county prosecutor or district attorney’s office to decide who is eligible for their pretrial diversion program. However, the law requires that the nature of the crime, the person’s prior arrest record and the victim’s response be considered in making those decisions. Prosecutors also can’t accept people into the program if the crime they are charged with carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence that cannot be deferred, suspended or served on probation.
Tags: Prearrest Diversion Programs Programs
