Diversion Programs in Tempe, AZ

Start with the name of the court on your paperwork. It tells you which office is prosecuting, and only that office can open the door to a program.

Tempe Municipal Court: the city side. Misdemeanors and criminal traffic cases from inside Tempe are heard at 140 E. Fifth Street and prosecuted by the Criminal Division of the Tempe City Attorney's Office, which works from Suite 301 in the same building. The court's criminal case page says that for some offenses, programs offered by the City Prosecutor's Office provide an alternative to the normal trial process, and that information about them is given at arraignment. That is the full extent of what the court publishes on the subject.

Tempe Community Supervision: where city programs run. The city places its diversion programs, along with probation and home detention, with Community Supervision, an office on the second floor at 3500 S. Rural Road. According to the city, people who qualify arrive on referral, sent by the court or by the city prosecutors once a misdemeanor arrest has happened. In practice that means the referral has to come first, from the judge or the city prosecutor; a person cannot simply walk in and enroll. The city pages we read do not list which charges qualify, what the programs cost or how long they last, so the honest answer on any specific charge is that the city prosecutor decides.

A county justice court: a different prosecutor. When a state trooper or a Sheriff's deputy wrote the citation, the misdemeanor can be assigned to a Maricopa County justice court instead, and there the County Attorney's Office is the prosecutor. That office lists two justice court programs on its website: Justice Court Diversion, a class-based program for some misdemeanor charges and citations, which can end with the charges dismissed with prejudice; and a Domestic Violence Diversion Program for justice court cases, which assesses each person's risk and can end with the charges dismissed.

Superior Court: a felony. A Tempe felony goes to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and the downtown Superior Court complex, at the Central Court Building, 201 W. Jefferson St., or the South Court Tower, 175 W. Madison St. Confirm the building on your current notice. Arizona law gives the county attorney sole discretion over whether to divert or defer a prosecution, and the office's diversion page describes a deputy county attorney screening both the charged offense and the person's suitability. A judge cannot order a felony diversion over the prosecutor's objection.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. A plea that ends in probation, however light, still leaves a conviction behind, one that a background check, a licensing board or an immigration review can find. A completed diversion program ends differently, with the charge dismissed, which is why the question deserves attention before anyone talks about a plea.