Diversion, which involves removing youths from the juvenile justice system, has been a popular approach to the handling of certain youths. These youths have been involved in minor criminal offenses such as minor property violations, status offenses, or truancy. There has been disenchantment with diversion programs recently because of the lack of clear empirical support that diversion is acceptable both to the community and the justice system. Forty-three youths and parents were interviewed one-and-one-half years following the youths' participation in a youth diversion program operating in a western Canadian city of 170,000 people. Results showed that diversion is very acceptable to the youth and their parents, both at the time of diversion and 1.5 years later. In addition, police data suggest that diversion is acceptable to the justice system. Police records showed that the recidivism rate for diverted youths was about half that of court-processed youths; however, youths were not randomly assigned to diversion and court. A recent study which did use randomization of youths to diverted and court groups reported similar results, adding support to the present findings. 1 table and 4 references. (Author abstract modified)