United States Office for the District of Columbia & Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia roll out 2 new diversion options for DC Residents
In the last month the United States Attorneys office for the District of Columbia (USAO) and Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia (OAG) have added 2 new diversion options for people charged with minor crimes in the District of Columbia. It is designed to help person charged with criminal offenses who have substantial records and the person has no violent crime background. In other words, the person can have a long criminal record and diversion will be still offered. The diversion options requirement is that the individual participate in either the education or employment diversion options.
EMPLOYMENT TRACK
A defendant who wishes to take advantage of the Employment Track diversion program must enter into an Employment Track DSA that will last for six months. Upon successful completion of the Employment Track DSA, the defendant will be allowed to withdraw his/her guilty plea and the case will be dismissed with prejudice. The typical agreement for employment track.
Eligibility:
- A defendant cannot have been convicted of or served probation/parole/supervised release for any firearms-related offense, any sex offense (with the exception of solicitation of prostitution), child abuse, or violent felony offense within the past ten years. Please note, that the USAO counts juvenile adjudications as “convictions” for purposes of determining diversion eligibility. There also are certain serious arrests and convictions that will disqualify a defendant regardless of the age of the criminal conduct, e.g., homicide, rape, and other serious sexual or violent
- A defendant cannot currently be on probation/parole/supervised release for a “dangerous crime,” as defined by D.C. Code § 23-1331, or be held without
- The defendant cannot be currently charged with Possession of PCP, K2 or synthetic cannabinoids, or any firearms offense. The defendant may receive an Employment Track DSA under this program for Simple Assault, Threats, and Assault on a Police Officer, but only with USAO supervisory
- A defendant must be deemed eligible for the program by a D.C. government employment- service specialist prior to entry of the Employment Track DSA. Please note that one of the
D.C. government’s requirements for a person to be enrolled in either Project Empowerment or Career Connections is that the person be a resident of the District of Columbia. Another D.C. government requirement is that a person be between the ages of 20-24 to be eligible for Career Connections and 22-54 to be eligible for Project Empowerment.
- A defendant must test negative (-) at the initial drug test or consecutively test negative (-) two times, and remain negative (-), at the time of entry into the program. Drug testing must be conducted under the direction of the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency (PSA). The USAO will not accept any privately-obtained drug tests. In addition to the USAO drug testing requirement, the D.C. government requires that a defendant test negative for marijuana to enroll in Career Connections or Project
Requirements:
- Upon entering into the Employment Track DSA, the defendant must plead guilty to charges that are negotiated between the government and defense pursuant to a plea
- An Employment Track DSA under this program lasts for six
- An interim diversion review hearing will be scheduled eight weeks after the defendant enters into the Employment Track DSA. At the time of the interim diversion return hearing, the defendant must have completed:
- A three-week life skills/job readiness class; and
- Be an active client and in substantial compliance with all requirements of either the Career Connections or Project Empowerment
- In the event that there is not an immediate vacancy available in the three-week life skills/job readiness class, the parties may move for a joint continuance of the interim diversion review hearing to allow the defendant to enroll in the life skills/job readiness class. Under no circumstances will the defendant be allowed more than one 90-day continuance to enroll in the life skills/job readiness
- If, at the time of the interim diversion review hearing, a defendant has failed to complete the three-week life skills/job readiness class or is not an active client who is in substantial compliance with the Career Connections or Project Empowerment program, the defendant will be deemed to have not satisfied the basic terms of the Employment Track DSA, and the parties will proceed to
- If, at the end of the six months, a defendant (1) has been an active client in Career Connections or Project Empowerment for a period of two months, (2) has substantially complied with the program’s requirements, and (3) has not been rearrested on probable cause, s/he will be permitted to withdraw his/her guilty plea and the case will be dismissed with prejudice. If the defendant has not complied with those terms, s/he will proceed directly to
EDUCATION TRACK
A defendant who wishes to take advantage of the Education Track diversion program must enter into an Education Track DSA that will last for six months. Upon successful completion of the Education Track DSA, the defendant will be allowed to withdraw his/her guilty plea and the case will be dismissed with prejudice. The typical agreement for education track.
Eligibility:
- A defendant cannot have been convicted of or served probation/parole/supervised release for any firearms-related offense, any sex offense (with the exception of solicitation of prostitution), child abuse or violent felony offense within the past ten years. Please note, that the USAO counts juvenile adjudications as “convictions” for purposes of determining diversion eligibility. There also are certain serious arrests and convictions that will disqualify a defendant regardless of the age of the criminal conduct, e.g., homicide, rape, and other serious sexual or violent
- A defendant cannot currently be on probation/parole/supervised release for a “dangerous crime,” as defined by D.C. Code § 23-1331, or be held without
- The defendant cannot be currently charged with Possession of PCP, K2 or synthetic cannabinoids, or any firearms offense. The defendant may receive an Education Track DSA under this program for Simple Assault, Threats, and Assault on a Police Officer, but only with USAO supervisory
- A defendant must be deemed eligible for the program by a D.C. government education-service specialist prior to entry of the Education Track DSA. Please note that in order to enroll in the ReEngagement Center, the D.C. government requires that a person (1) be a resident of the District of Columbia; (2) be between the ages of 16-24; (3) not be currently enrolled and/or attending school; and (4) not already have a high school diploma or
- A defendant must test negative (-) at the initial drug test or consecutively test negative (-) two times, and remain negative (-), at the time of entry into the program. Drug testing must be conducted under the direction of the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency (PSA). The USAO will not accept any privately-obtained drug
Requirements:
- Upon entering into the Education Track DSA, the defendant must plead guilty to charges that are negotiated between the government and defense pursuant to a plea
- An Education Track DSA under this program lasts for six
- Whether a defendant has “substantially complied” with the program will be determined solely by the USAO. The USAO’s decision with respect to substantial compliance is a final, non-appealable
- An interim diversion review hearing will be scheduled eight weeks after the defendant enters into the Education Track DSA. At the time of the interim diversion return hearing, the defendant must be an active client of the Re-Engagement Center and in substantial compliance with the
- ReEngagement Center clients are considered “active clients” if they remain connected with their Re-Engagement Specialist at least once a month (Re- Engagement Specialists attempt to connect with their clients at least once every two weeks and will call, email, text multiple times in those two weeks if the client is unresponsive); have not changed his/her contact information without informing the Re-Engagement Specialist; have not refused services from his/her Re-Engagement Specialist; have not been incarcerated; and have not moved out-of-state.
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