§ 124.002.Theft Education Program

The standards a diversion program must meet, and they are drawn to prevent the obvious abuses.

Four content requirements. The program must address the type of alleged criminal offense; seek to modify the person’s behavioral decision-making process; engage the person with interactive exercises designed to instill appropriate societal behavior; and promote accountability and reconciliation between the person and the merchant.

Subsection (b) bars discrimination on two grounds, and the second is the significant one: race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin, and the person’s ability to pay.

Subsection (c) puts that into practice for fee-charging providers. They shall develop a plan offering discounts, alternative payment schedules, or scholarship funds to a person verified as indigent; may reduce or waive the fee; and may not compensate a merchant who offers the program.

The no-compensation rule is the structural safeguard. A merchant paid per referral would have a financial interest in diverting people rather than reporting them, and the diversion decision would stop being about the offense.

Subsection (d): no admission of guilt may be required to participate. That keeps the program from operating as an out-of-court conviction, and protects someone who accepts diversion to avoid the risk of a prosecution.

Subsection (e) closes the loop: notwithstanding any other law, a person who successfully completes the program may not be subject to any additional civil penalties under any other provision — including, on its terms, the Theft Liability Act’s additional damages.