Local opinion: Laura Conover has decimated diversion programming at the County Attorney’s Office

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover has decimated diversion programming at the Pima County Attorney’s Office (PCAO) — programming vitally important to providing restorative justice as an alternative to prosecution for those who have committed nonviolent crimes.

According to official deferred prosecution reports published on the Arizona Prosecuting Attorney’s Advisory Council (APAAC) website, PCAO in 2018-19 (the year before the COVID pandemic) processed 1,315 cases through 10 different adult diversion programs, and 321 juvenile cases through 18 Community Justice Boards (CJBs) led by 97 volunteers with a success rate for those youths of 94%.

Ms. Conover ran for election in 2020 on a platform of promising to expand diversion at PCAO and to add a new adult restorative justice diversion program. Like many employees then in the office, I was excited to work for her, especially because I am passionate about diversion and was making a career of facilitating various diversion programs. I was proud to have been the lead staff liaison to the CJBs that provide juvenile diversion programming and had recently assumed management responsibility for Adult Diversion Programs as well. While I thoroughly enjoyed my time under the previous administration, I was excited to have a new County Attorney who shared a passion for diversion and made it a focal point of her campaign.

Unfortunately, Ms. Conover broke her campaign promise; she did not expand diversion. Instead, her absenteeism and disdain for all of those who worked for her predecessor, including myself, was damaging to all divisions and programs across PCAO. My heart is broken by what she has failed to do and the impact that it has had office wide and, most importantly, to Pima County as a whole.

As revealed in official APAAC reports, under Ms. Conover’s administration in 2022-23, PCAO processed only 580 adult diversion cases (less than half the number under her predecessor). According to a year-end report, CJBs processed roughly 70 cases. Sadly, CJB now has only 7 Boards with just 29 volunteers. Diversion participation dropped drastically not due to a reduced need for diversion programming, but due to a system breakdown at PCAO coming from the top.

Diversion begins with referrals from prosecutors. Due to a mass exodus of prosecutors, those still with the office are inundated with unmanageable caseloads. Prosecutors now need to process cases as fast as possible to reduce their burden, so they no longer have time to assess whether diversion is the best resolution.

There have been many op-eds written regarding Ms. Conover’s administration and her blatant lack of engagement to pressing issues and basic job duties. When you look at the robust variety of Diversion programs that still exist, the one thing missing is Ms. Conover showing any true interest in expanding Diversion participation. When Ms. Conover took office, it took her almost a year to acknowledge the CJB volunteers. Even worse, she has yet to visit a Board to see the true transformative impact the program has on families and the community. The same is true for the Adult Diversion programs. This is not the behavior of a leader who is passionate about diversion.

I resigned from my position as Ms. Conover’s Diversion Program Manager after being unable for a period of three years to get her to be willing even to meet with me to discuss what could be done about the drop in diversion participation and innovative ways to help more people in Pima County. There was precious little support from Ms. Conover for diversion programming, and while her leadership team tried, they too were left without answers. It became clear that diversion was simply a political talking point for Ms. Conover, not something she was willing or able to implement in reality.

Democratic candidate for County Attorney Mike Jette has promised to support robust diversion programming and expand participation and has the experience to do it. This is why I am enthusiastically supporting Mr. Jette for Pima County Attorney. I urge all those voting in the Democratic primary election who care about offering diversion from prosecution and referral to treatment programs to join me in voting for Mike Jette.