The diversion and mediation program aims to correct juvenile perpetrators without relevant criminal proceedings. After admitted to the program, juveniles take some responsibilities and they are obliged to meet all requirement listed in contract. Currently the program is being implemented in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Gori and Samtredia. According to Ministry of Justices, soon the program will cover all regions of Georgia.

How a juvenile can be subjected to diversion programme

The victim’s consent is not necessary to launch the diversion process. Only a prosecutor is authorized to make decision to include the juvenile offender in the diversion and mediation program or not. If a juvenile offender has committed a minor crime [punishable by less than 5 year imprisonment] for the first time, a prosecutor can divert the juvenile from criminal prosecution. Besides that, the juvenile offender shall admit the crime before and compensate the damage of the victim or a state.

The process of diversion

Having made the decision the prosecutor contacts a social worker and assigns the case-file of a juvenile to him/her. The Social Worker draws a bio-psycho-social portrait of the juvenile, which will become a basis for the selection of relevant requirements for the juvenile offender which s/he will have to implement in the framework of the program. The requirements and responsibilities of the juvenile are listed in the civil contract which is signed by the juvenile, his/her parents, the prosecutor and the social worker. The contract term shall not exceed one year.

Conditions and obligations

As for the obligations of the program participant juvenile, they must promote his/her re-socialization and must have maximum positive impact on him/her.

“Obligations differ – attending educational courses, joining sport activities, mastering handicraft, developing computer skills, socially useful labor etc. The imposed obligations shall meet the juvenile’s interests. For example, one juvenile offender wrote very nice poems, so he was instructed to upload his own poems in internet,” a program mediator Tinano Javakhishvili from GCRT said.

The social worker monitors implementation of the imposed responsibilities by the juvenile. If the juvenile breaches the contract terms, it is automatically annulled and the social worker will return the juvenile’s case to the prosecutor. Thus the juvenile will have to undergo all procedures envisaged by criminal prosecution which he/she could avoid with the diversion program.

Mediation

If a victim is also involved in the case, a mediator shall also take part in the process who is entitled to achieve consensus between the parties. 

“The mediator is entitled to prepare the parties – a victim and a juvenile, for the final conference meeting. The juvenile offender and the victim of the former’s illegal activities meet each other face to face. As a rule, the juvenile apologizes to the victim during this meeting; the victim side also has opportunity to express his opinion. The moderator moderates the conference. Prosecutor and social worker also participate in the meeting. If the victim side refuses to participate in program, the diversion process will continue, but the mediation will not be carried out. I would like to underline that the victim’s participation in the process is very significant. Face to face meeting with victim, usually has a very positive impact on the juvenile; it helps him/her to acknowledge his unlawful behavior. Thus, we, mediators do our best to convince the victim side to participate in the mediation process,”- Tinano Javakhishvili said.

Experts on diversion programme

Psychologist Nata Zazashvili from Safari positively evaluates the diversion and mediation program: “The diversion and mediation program is an innovation for the Georgian society. This program aims to assist the juvenile offenders to acknowledge the damage s/he caused to the victim, to himself, to his family, to his school and to the society in general. It is noteworthy that the program is focused on the juvenile’s illegal behavior and not on the juvenile himself; that means, the crime committed by the juvenile is unacceptable and not the juvenile himself. While the traditional criminal law aims to punish the offender, the diversion and mediation program aims to take care of the juvenile offender. Unless the program was launched, more than half of those 74 diverted juveniles could nowadays be in prison. The Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly states that juvenile’s imprisonment can be used only as an ultimate tool of punishment. So, this program is very important,” – said Nata Zazashvili, psychologist.

Tatuli Todua, the lawyer from the Georgian Young Lawyers Associaton talks about the gaps of the program: “The Diversion and Mediation Program works also for adult offenders. It seems that the state is more severe to Juvenile offenders, then to adults. For example, a juvenile can be diverted only once and the crime must be committed for the first time, whilst such preconditions are not required from adult offenders. State should be more liberal to Juveniles.”

Only one out of total 74 diverted juvenile committed crime again. Representative of theMinistry of Justice said, it proves that the program is successful: “It is too early to allege that we will not have more than one relapse. We can make similar evaluation after the juvenile diversion program is implemented for at least three or four years. However, our current data encourages us to declare that the program is very successful. One relapse out of 74 cases proves that the program works successfully,”- Andro Gigauri, the head of the administration of the ministry of justice said.

Other alternative programmes

Besides the diversion and mediation program, some other programs are also implemented in Georgia like “My Senior Friend” and “Socially Useful Labor”. All of them are alternative programs for criminal liability. Andro Gigauri said, the zero tolerance policy launched by the Government of Georgia has already had positive results and now it is high time to launch liberalization policy: “As a result of the zero tolerance policy, people feel safer in the country. Nowadays, as a result of the measures taken in the framework of this policy, the society feels safer. So, since the zero tolerance policy has already done its job, we should start more liberal policy. Various activities are already implemented in this direction and diversion and mediation program is one of them,” – Andro Gigauri said.

The mediation and diversion program will be implemented throughout Georgia from 2012. The representatives of the ministry of justice said, after the geographical boundaries of the program are expanded the program might also cover grave crimes.

Salome Achba