Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia.Mzinyane, Bongane Morris.2025-11-152025-11-1520252025https://hdl.handle.net/10413/24088Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Adult diversion, grounded in restorative justice principles, is an alternative pre-trial intervention that seeks to redirect offenders from the formal justice system towards rehabilitative measures. Despite its potential in South Africa’s crime management horizon, adult diversion remains a grey area, characterised by under-explored processes and programmes. This study explored adult diversion processes and programmes by interviewing probation officers and public prosecutors in the UThukela District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. By using a qualitative exploratory-contextual approach, this study adopted a social constructivist paradigm to capture the lived experiences of the aforementioned key practitioners. The theories framing the study were structuration theory and restorative justice theory. The participants were seven probation officers and seven public prosecutors from UThukela district in South Africa. Data was collected through individual, semi-structured interviews with participants, and reflexive thematic analysis was employed to analyse the results. Findings reveal that the perceived conceptualisation of adult diversion was essentialist and subjective, with it being described as a "second chance" for offenders, emphasising its rehabilitative and social reintegration stance. This view, however, varied across practitioners from both sample categories, highlighting disparities in the conceptualisation and application of the phenomenon. The perceived roles of participants seemed structured despite the absence of a standardising framework. Challenges identified include inconsistent application across different research sites, the lack of formal training, the rural context's constraints, limited resources, and varying perceptions among practitioners. The study also highlighted the influence of contextual factors such as socioeconomic disparities and cultural dynamics within rural areas like UThukela. It was also a key finding that while adult diversion has significant potential to alleviate pressures on the criminal justice system, its success hinges on effective stakeholder involvement, including victims, offenders, and community members. The study advocates for legislative reform to formalise adult diversion. Other key recommendations include developing accredited programmes, standardised practices, formalised training and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among stakeholders. This research enriches understanding of adult diversion as a multidimensional practice intersecting legal, social, and cultural spheres. By foregrounding the voices of frontline practitioners, it provides critical insights into operational realities and pathways for advancing restorative justice in South Africa.enCC0 1.0 Universalhttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/Adult diversion.Public Prosecutor.Restorative justice.Probation officer.Thesis