{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T04:00:40Z","timestamp":1790308840320,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786924800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786924800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000272","name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000272","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Drug and Alcohol Review"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Police\u2010led drug diversion schemes have expanded across England, yet little is known about whether their use reproduces established ethnic disparities in policing outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Using individual\u2010level data from 32,758 incidents recorded by 15 police forces (covering 38% of England's population), we conducted a cohort study to estimate ethnic differences in the likelihood of: (i) being offered diversion for suspected drug possession; and (ii) receiving a criminal sanction. Mixed\u2010effects logistic regression models were used to adjust for age, sex, suspected drug type and police\u2010force area, with missing data addressed via Bayesian chained imputation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We found substantial disparities. Compared with White suspects, Black suspects had significantly lower odds of receiving an offer of diversion (odds ratio\u20090.75, 95% confidence interval 0.65\u20130.87), while Asian suspects had significantly higher odds (odds ratio\u20091.25, 95% confidence interval 1.09\u20131.43). For criminalisation, Asian suspects were less likely than White suspects to receive a criminal sanction (odds ratio\u20090.81, 95% confidence interval 0.74\u20130.89), while Black suspects showed no statistically significant difference.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion and Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings extend long\u2010standing evidence of unequal policing, showing that ethnic disparities persist at the earliest decision points of drug law enforcement\u2014even within schemes intended to reduce criminalisation. The results underscore the need for police forces to monitor and remediate disproportionality in diversion decisions. Future work should investigate mechanisms underpinning officers' diversion decisions and assess whether differential access to diversion contributes to cumulative inequalities in police\u2010community relations and downstream criminal justice outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/dar.70230","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T05:09:49Z","timestamp":1787029789000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Ethnic Disparities in Police Diversion and Criminalisation for Drug Possession in England: A Study of 32,758 Incidents"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"45","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2968-1471","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ashley","family":"Mills","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent  Canterbury UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dan","family":"Lewer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bradford Institute for Health Research  Bradford UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guillermo Reyes","family":"Pascual","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Social Sciences University of Kent  Canterbury UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6437-0826","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nadine","family":"Hendrie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent  Canterbury UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6000-7891","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul","family":"Quinton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Policing  Durham UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthew","family":"Bacon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Law University of Sheffield  Sheffield UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alex","family":"Stevens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Law University of Sheffield  Sheffield UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","volume-title":"Race and Sentencing: A Study in the Crown Court: A Report for the Commission for Racial Equality","author":"Hood R.","year":"1992"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","volume-title":"Racism, Crime and Justice","author":"Bowling B.","year":"2002"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_4_1","volume-title":"Race and Criminal Justice","author":"Bhui H. 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V2.0 \u201d(2024) https:\/\/discovery.ucl.ac.uk\/id\/eprint\/10196619\/1\/pdd_quantitative_protocol_v2.0.pdf."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_20_1","unstructured":"Home Office \u201cHome Office Crime Recording Rules for Frontline Officers and Staff \u201d(2025) https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/counting\u2010rules\u2010for\u2010recorded\u2010crime."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_21_1","unstructured":"Office for National Statistics \u201cEthnic Group England and Wales: Census 2021 \u201d(2026) https:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/peoplepopulationandcommunity\/culturalidentity\/ethnicity\/bulletins\/ethnicgroupenglandandwales\/census2021."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_22_1","unstructured":"United States Census Bureau \u201cB02018: Asian Alone or in any Combination by Selected Groups \u201d(2026) https:\/\/data.census.gov\/table\/ACSDT1Y2021.B02018?q=Asian."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_23_1","unstructured":"West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner \u201cService Specification for a Pre\u2010Arrest Drug Diversion Scheme Statement of Requirement \u201d(2020) https:\/\/www.westmidlands\u2010pcc.gov.uk\/wp\u2010content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Pre\u2010Arrest\u2010Drug\u2010Diversion\u2010Spec.docx?x47511."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_24_1","unstructured":"N.Hendrie \u201cThe West Midlands Police Drug Diversion Scheme DIVERT: Descriptive Manual \u201d(2023) https:\/\/kar.kent.ac.uk\/101852\/."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_25_1","unstructured":"N.Hendrie \u201cThe Thames Valley Police Drug Diversion Scheme. 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