Prosecutor-led diversion unveiled: Lessons and insights from implementing Project Reset in two jurisdictions
Key Points
- Impact statement: This paper offers a nuanced understanding of the implementation of a prosecutorial diversion program called Reset. This paper aims to address and provide promising solutions to emerging policy and practice challenges that prosecutor offices will face and provide the needed knowledge to implement Reset in other jurisdictions.
- Reset is a prefiling diversion model driven by prosecutors to respond to low-level offenses with a brief community-based intervention rather than traditional case processing. This paper highlights the initial implementation of Project Reset in two new jurisdictions (Jefferson County, Alabama, and Westchester County, New York), describes program challenges and successes, and provides recommendations for other jurisdictions interested in implementing Reset in their communities.
- Both implementation sites used components of the original Reset model from New York City: diversion timed before or in close proximity to the first appearance hearing, brief intervention coupled with connections to community-based services, and case dismissal or declination. However, the two sites made notable adjustments to their implementation models in the timing of recruitment, eligibility criteria (e.g., eligible charges, criminal history), and specific elements of the brief workshop.
- Since initial implementation, Jefferson County has expanded their eligibility criteria twice (once to include more charge-eligible offenses, second to allow individuals with select past misdemeanors into the program). Both sites quickly expanded their programs countywide within the first year of implementation.
- Both sites reported high engagement and program completion among eligible participants: approximately 65 percent of eligible Jefferson County participants and 71 percent of Westchester County participants have had their case dismissed or declined to prosecute.
- Some noted implementation challenges included the low number of eligible participants, difficulty providing timely contact to eligible participants, issues managing restitution, and problems capturing comprehensive data to measure implementation and outcomes.
- Key considerations for jurisdictions interested in implementing Reset include: (1) developing an intentional and strategic staffing model for prosecutors and community service providers; (2) facilitating the process for sealing or expunging charges from criminal histories and offering support as needed; (3) creating and implementing a robust evaluation to understand program impacts; and (4) developing communication and branding strategies to increase buy-in and sustainability.
Abstract
Research suggests diversionary practices for first-time low-level offenses can substantially reduce subsequent criminal legal system involvement and minimize long-term collateral consequences. Diversion programs are one way for prosecutors to leverage their discretion to divert individuals charged with lower-level offenses to community-based services to address underlying behaviors and needs. This paper focuses on the implementation of one type of diversion program—Project Reset—in two jurisdictions: Jefferson County, Alabama, and Westchester County, New York. Project Reset is a prefiling diversion model in which a prosecutor establishes an office-wide policy to divert people charged with certain offenses to participate in a brief community-based behavioral intervention rather than undergo traditional case processing. RTI International partnered with prosecutors’ offices in these two counties to evaluate their adoption of Reset. Using data from site visits, stakeholder interviews, and monthly program check-ins, this paper highlights the initial implementation of Reset in these two jurisdictions, describes program challenges and successes, and provides recommendations for other jurisdictions interested in implementing Reset in their communities. Although both sites faced challenges, our findings elucidate notable success in the initial implementation of the program, with promising results seen in stakeholder buy-in, program participation, and providing services to individuals while promoting accountability.
© 2026 RTI International. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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Christopher Inkpen
