DIVERSION FROM PROSECUTION INTO PSYCHIATRIC CAR Who Controls the Gates

This article examines the construction' of potential psychiatric diversion cases in Scotland. In theory, the prosecution service decides which offenders should be diverted from prosecution but, in practice, selection is largely determined by the police. The police report plays the crucial role in starting the diversion process and prosecutors generally respond neutrally to the cues' provided by the police. Consequently, any systematic bias, leading to the atypical nature of diverted offenders, is not caused by prosecutorial decision making but is imported at an earlier stage in the process. Further, the key to expanding diversion from prosecution into psychiatric care is to require the police to provide more information.