These included the degree of force used, any injury caused, previous history of offending by the suspect, evidential sufficiency to prove the allegation and the circumstances of the case.
Police were not able to say definitively whether the charges related to smacking, but there were no charges of manually assaulting children before 2009, when New Zealand's anti-smacking law came into effect. That year there was one charge.
Police have discretion around prosecuting a parent in relation to the use of force against a child, "where the offence is considered to be so inconsequential that there is no public interest in proceeding with a prosecution", the spokesman said.
"In the case of child victims, the action complained of may not warrant the intervention of the criminal law and the best outcome may be through education and support provided to the family to modify behaviours."
When asked about the diversion for charges of assaulting females, the spokesman said its prosecution service evaluated the full circumstances of each case, consulting the officer in charge and the victim before deciding whether diversion is appropriate.
The purposes of diversion are to address offending behaviour that has resulted in charges, balance the needs of victims, the offender and their communities, give offenders an opportunity to avoid conviction, and reduce reoffending, he said.
Over the past 10 years, the number of diversions steadily increased from 325 in 2007 to 473 in 2010 before dropping to 191 in 2011. The fall has continued since then, resulting in just 90 diversions in 2016.
The drop was the result of a change in charging policy, with the introduction of pre-charge warnings, the spokesman said.
"This saw a considerable number of individuals who may have, in the normal course of events, previously been dealt with by diversion now being subject to pre-charge alternate action."
Tauranga police issued 205 pre-charge warnings from October to December 2010, which rose to 750 in 2011. The number of warnings remained steady since, with 664 warnings issued in 2106.
Ken Evans, of the Tauranga branch of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, said the early figures reflected the trust's deep concern about diversion.
"I think the initial enthusiasm shows in the figures, and that was what we were concerned about. We were wanting a sensible sentencing for the crime but someone was deciding 'Oh, you've been naughty, don't do it again' and that was it."
Mr Evans said the trust was worried the number of diversions would get out of hand and the initial increase strengthened this concern, but "what we are seeing now is a sensible approach coming in".
"There are definitely cases where diversion is appropriate but initially it was overdone," he said. "Now they are being much more careful who they offer diversion to."
Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services director Tommy Wilson said they often helped offenders as part of an offender's diversion conditions.
"Last year they gave us 31 boys and over that six-month period we've given them life skills ... and 28 of them didn't go on to reoffend. So diversion works. It's got to be better than learning how to be a better criminal in a jail cell."
What is police diversion?
The Police Adult Diversion Scheme is a scheme that provides an opportunity for police to deal with some offences and/or offenders without going through formal court prosecution.
The purposes of diversion are to:
- address offending behaviour that has resulted in charges.
- balance the needs of victims, the offender and their communities.
- give offenders an opportunity to avoid conviction.
- reduce reoffending.
Diversion enables eligible offenders to complete diversion activities within a given timeframe to avoid both a full prosecution and the possibility of receiving a conviction. This means that judicial time is able to be reserved for more serious offences and offender.
Source - NZ Police