San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project

Our mission is to facilitate, within various communities, positive, and effective alternative to fines, criminal prosecution, and detention. The San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project (SFPDP) was established in 1976 through the joint efforts of a group of socially conscious citizens, the San Francisco Bar Association and the Judges of the Municipal Courts. Their experience had shown that most individuals charged with a misdemeanor offense did not benefit perceptibly by jail time. They were convinced that both the goals of crime prevention and rehabilitation would be better served by an alternative program of rehabilitation, education, and community service work. SFPDP was formed to provide “first time” misdemeanor offenders of non violent charges an opportunity to have their case dismissed by completing a program. Continuing our tradition and philosophy of “Dignity and Respect, Compassion and Accountability,” SFPDP added more programs designed to address various needs of the Court, their Clients and the Community such as Court Accountable Case Management, Court Accountable Homeless Services, Community Involvement Team Yes!, The Navigator Project, Neighborhood Courts, No Violence Alliance, Own Recognizance, Pretrial Diversion, Project 20, Project 22 & Supervised Pretrial Release.