Diversion Program by District Attorney or the Juvenile Court

When clients are referred to Family and Youth Services an initial assessment is performed, which includes information on a clients demographics, residential status, income, insurance coverage, mental or medical history, and main reason for seeking service. The process also includes an overview of different areas of need such as shelter, food, safety, and health care.

Jail diversion is a mental health platform explicitly premeditated to isolate and divert individuals with mental health, substance abuse disorders or both from the criminal justice system into a need-specific treatment in the mental health system. Specifically, the program provides linkages to community-based treatment and support services to assist the individual in reducing deviant behavior. For this reason, the individuals avoid arrests and spend a lesser period in jail. The effectiveness of the diversion program relies on various activities that involve the identification of the target group and a proper integration of the victim into the program. While there are many different types of jail diversion programs the accessibility to jail diversion programs are limited, due to the strict qualification guidelines set. In addition, the availability of appropriate mental health professionals is paramount to the efficiency of the program. It is a common belief that linking mentally ill offenders to Community-Based Services decrease their chances of recidivism and contact with security officers (Sirotich, 2009).

In the United States, over 90,000 juveniles are incarcerated in juvenile justice facilities. To house 90,000 juveniles, majority non-violent offenders, it costs the states roughly 5.7 billion dollars annually. “With states facing serious budgetary constraints, it is an opportune time or policymakers to consider ways to reduce juvenile justice spending that won’t compromise public safety.” In the effort to reduce juvenile justice costs, community-based programs known as pretrial diversion programs were implemented. Pretrial diversion programs did not only reduce funding costs, but benefited the juvenile as well. Pretrial diversion programs main objective is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, which ultimately led to lower recidivism rates and safer communities. As a result of the benefits to all parties involved, today’s juvenile judicial system offers more juveniles the opportunity to attend these diversion programs; rather than proceed through traditional criminal justice processes. (Justice Policy Institution)

The assessment holistic approach to understanding what has occurred and currently occurring in the clients life as well as understanding what is considered a priority of treatment for them and their guardian. The assessment begins with the presenting issues asking what brought the client in. The section also covers when the problem started, how long it has been going on, what is the level of intensity of the problems, and how frequently do they occur. In the family and social history section examples of questions asked are current household member, how does the client get along with others, client's strengths, and who do they go to when they need help. The next section is the abuse and sexual risk behavior where the client is asked if they feel safe inside and or outside there home and if they have or know of anyone that has been abused or neglected. Developmental history is then taken, which includes history of pregnancy, any disorder or disabilities the client has been diagnosed with, and delays in any motor

North Carolina is the only state that prosecute 16 and 17 year olds that is charged with criminal offenses in the criminal justice system. These criminal records can have severe collateral consequences especially for minorities. While having a grave fiscal impact on individuals, families and communities. Due to this, Durham County introduced a Misdemeanor Diversion program (MDP) which is a 90 day program that tries to avoid a first arrest for low-risk youth in Durham- County. The purpose of this program is to keep the youth out of the adult criminal system.

The treatment centers are intended to achieve community and emotional support, behavioral, and educational needs of youth in rehabilitation. Youth enrollees must earn a successful release by completing spectrum seven stages of intellectual healing process aimed to changed delinquent thinking and behavior. The program is customized and time in treatment is uncertain for each enrollee. Normally, treatment last 12 to 14 months, though based on each youth treatment mission.

FSH will have the Director of the program who will operate as the staff who attends all the meetings with the state regarding the movement of all eligible individuals for the program. The director is also in the position of holding the vouchers and monitoring the slots the state has issued for the program. The director will also monitor the referrals and forward eligible referrals to the Program Manager. The Program Manager is to follow up with each referral to FSH program and perform the initial assessment. Once the assessment is complete and it is determined the individual is eligible, the Program Manager will assign the individual to a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Counselor (PRC) who will then engage the individual in Brief Visit(s) (BV) to assist the individual in familiarizing them with the community and assist them in the process in finding housing. The process is 21 days and the individual will become a consumer within the program and be assigned a

I am doing my field placement at the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court in the Juvenile Diversion Program (JDP). The JDP works with first time misdemeanor juvenile offenders between the ages of 8 and 17. In fact, the Florida Statute 985.12 gives law enforcement the authority to issue a Civil Citation instead of arresting the youth. The premise of the diversion program is to direct the juvenile’s path away from jail. When first entering the JDP the child will receive an assessment and may be referred to mental health counseling. In the first place, the case workers interviews the youth and their parent/guardian and form a contract. Next, the case worker will assign the defendant sanctions for the defendant to complete. The perpetrator will

Personally, I don’t know anyone who was ever involved in a diversion program. However, I have watched the show “Beyond Scared Straight” which focused on teens placed in a diversion program that showed them what jail will be like. The juveniles were given a specific date/time to appear at their state’s prison, in which they were accompanied by their parents and/or guardians. They were given orange prison jumpsuits to wear the entire day. They then went through the process of being admitted to the prison and spent the whole day being treated as an inmate. At the end, the parents had the final say, if they wanted to take them home or let them stay at the prison overnight. This program affected majority of the juveniles, a lot of their tough exterior

The Jasper County Juvenile Office is a department of the Juvenile Division of the Twenty-Ninth Judicial Circuit Court. The department’s mandate, as defined by Missouri Revised Statutes, § 211.011 is to “provide the care, protection, and discipline of children who come within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Each child coming within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court shall receive such care, guidance and control as will conduce to the child's welfare and the best interests of the state, and that when such child is removed from the control of his parents, the court shall secure for him care as nearly as possible equivalent to that which should have been given him by them” (1995).

David is a 13 year old had a few brushes with the law in the form of truancy, loitering, and damage to property. David burglarized garages where miscellaneous tools and other personal property were stolen. With his cooperation, the judge developed a restorative justice plan as his punishment for the crimes he committed. The restorative justice plan for him will be community service, compensation and circle sentencing.

Pretrial release and diversion programs are meant to handle defendants prior to them standing trial. Pretrial release and diversion programs developed to deal with jail overcrowding because jails simply could not handle the number of defendants that were incarcerated prior to trial. There are four types of diversion programs: diversion from arrest, diversion from prosecution, diversion from jail, and diversion from imprisonment. The goal of pretrial release and diversion is to identify those defendants who do not pose a substantial danger to society and are good candidates for being released on their own recognizance. In addition to releasing the defendants from jails and freeing up critical space, pretrial diversion programs have to consider things like community safety. Therefore, not all defendants awaiting trial are eligible for pretrial diversion. Those in charge of pretrial diversion programs are have to consider the defendant's prior history, life experience, and the nature of the accusations against the defendant.

Alternative programs for youth were developed for mild and less serious delinquents. Over the years, the program has seen a surge in electronic home monitoring, community intensive supervision programs which service serious offenders in addition to minor cases. At times, group homes may house repeated youth offenders. Regardless of the placement, 24-hour supervision is provided in a unique way.

This court has exclusive jurisdiction over personal, commercial, or farm bankruptcy (United States Courts, 2017). This modern courthouse was made specifically to embrace technology. The courtrooms are equipped with a digital recording system, and several have document cameras, projectors, and flat screen monitors (United States District & Bankruptcy Court, 2017).

Finally, literature on the juvenile justice system often focuses on program implementation and effectiveness at addressing rehabilitation, as well as diversion techniques within the system (Greenwood, 2008). This review audits these problems in detail and establishes them within the bigger struggle in the juvenile justice system to rehabilitate youth offenders.