Embedding diversion in Youth Justice: 18 months of learning from the YEF and CJI partnership 

In 2024, the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) and the Centre for Justice Innovation (CJI) embarked on a partnership together with one shared aim: to help policing and youth justice services deliver diversion effectively for children. 

Eighteen months on, the partnership has supported practitioners across the country to translate evidence into practice – helping youth justice services implement diversion approaches that prevent young people from becoming further involved in the criminal justice system. 

A learning report on Year 1 has been completed, which included interviews of a sample of youth justice and policing leads who have received support in the first year.

Bringing evidence into youth justice practice 

The partnership builds on shared values. 

At YEF, we believe that no child should be affected by violence. We research violence to understand it; we find, fund and test what works to prevent it; and we are building a movement to end it. 

CJI plays a key role in bringing that evidence into practice, supporting frontline practitioners and officers to apply it in their day-to-day work. 

Diversion Practice Guidance and supporting the implementation of diversion 

Over the last 18 months, the partnership has helped to embed evidence into practice by: 

• Bringing evidence to the frontline: Publication of the Diversion Practice Guidance. The Guidance is based upon the best available evidence and practitioner insights on diversion. It sets out seven key recommendations to make sure diversion is delivered in a way that’s fair, consistent, and – crucially – effective.  

These recommendations provide a practical framework for youth justice services and police forces looking to strengthen their diversion approaches.

The danger is that diversion can be seen as a bit evangelical and soft, CJI are very good at grounding messages in the evidence base. That turned out to be invaluable when I had to convince my senior management team.

Interviewee 1

• Turning research into real change: Provided practical support to more than 20 youth justice services and nine police forces in implementing the seven recommendations, using CJI’s expertise and drawing on the YEF Toolkit and approaches such as Informal and Formal Diversion. Following CJI’s guidance on implementing an Outcome 22 pathway, participating sites reported:  

• 95.2% completion rate  
• 13.6% reoffending within the first year 

The best part was the workshop when everyone was physically together, to thrash things out, we honestly got more done in that one day than we’d achieved in the previous 18 months of meetings.

Interviewee 2

Growing the community of practice: Implementation workshops facilitated by CJI have helped professionals translate evidence into practice focusing on effective diversion, tackling racial disproportionality, and building strong partnerships. Over 75% of participants said these sessions add real value to their roles and workshops have an average attendance of over 150 people.

Working through it together helped clarify how we were inadvertently forcing children to progress through the CJS (criminal justice system).
The level of reassurance that we have got the right process is really helpful.

Interviewee 3

What next for diversion in youth justice?

This year, CJI will continue its support by working with ten new Youth Justice Services and their police partners. The focus will be on areas such as : 

• staff training and development 
• improved oversight from management boards,  
• implementation of deferred prosecution schemes 

Together, these efforts aim to ensure that diversion becomes a consistent and evidence-informed part of youth justice practice across England and Wales. 

If you’re interested in working with us in year three, or have ideas for future Virtual Learning Cafe topics, we’d love to hear from you.