CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 202X, Vol. XX, No. X, Month 2021, 1–20. DOI: h t t p s : / / do i . o r g / 10.1177/00938548211013854 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions © 2021 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology 1 JUVENILE DIVERSION AND THE FAMILY How Youth and Parents Experience Diversion Programming MARK MAGIDSON TAYLOR KIDD University of California, Irvine Despite extensive research into juvenile justice interventions, there is a limited focus on family engagement, including par- ent–child experiences in these various programs. Even less research explores how families, specifically youth and parents, are affected by diversion from the traditional juvenile justice system. The current study fills this gap by drawing from in-depth interviews with 19 parents and 19 youths participating in a juvenile pretrial diversion program in Southern California. This research highlights how a diversion program can influence how families understand the justice system and law-related behav- iors. The themes discussed include how diversion programs shape parent–child bonds, how parents navigate negative indict- ments of youth and themselves for participating in diversion, and the influence of external challenges and social forces shaping youth and parent experiences. Findings support the theoretical contributions from social bond and labeling theory. Implications and future research will also be discussed. Keywords: juvenile delinquency; attitudes; criminological theory; parenting; perceptions; qualitative methods; social bonds; stigma F amily-focused research into juvenile delinquency has repeatedly established the signifi- cant role that parent–child dynamics play in shaping youth behavior (Burgess & Akers, 1966; De Coster, 2012; Steinberg et al., 2006). A large body of work supports the idea that parents can protect their children from engaging in delinquency through emotional support and attachment, positive legal socialization, and active supervision (Hoeve et al., 2009; Palmer & Hollin, 2001; Steinberg et al., 2006; Tyler & Trinkner, 2017; Vidal & Woolard, 2016). Despite the literature demonstrating the importance of parent–child relationships, limited research explores the role of parental involvement throughout youths’ juvenile jus- tice system processing (Vidal & Woolard, 2016). In fact, parents and families may be char- acterized by juvenile justice officials and/or programs as sources contributing to their child’s involvement in the justice system (Burke et al., 2014; Cox, 2018). Although justice system AUTHORS’ NOTE: We have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mark Magidson, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine, 2340 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA 92697-7080, USA; e-mail: magidson@uci.edu. 1013854CJB XX X 10.1177/00938548211013854Criminal Justice and BehaviorMagidson, Kidd / JUVENILE DIVERSION AND THE FAMILY research-article 2021