Misdemeanor Diversion Program

Statistics shows that in 1999, nearly one in every 4 adjudicated delinquency cases resulted in out of home placement for the juvenile. Placement cases have grown by almost 24 percent in less than 10 years, from 124,900 in 1990 to 155,200 in 1999. However, this statistic might be a bit old, recent statistics shows that there has been a steep decline in the number of juveniles going into placement programs. In 2006, there were about 93,000 juveniles in residential placement, and by 2008 there were just over 86,000 in public or private residential placement facilities. There is yet to be an exact reason on why there

The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Office of Prevention and Victim Services provides voluntary youth crime prevention programs through the state of Florida. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice mission is to increase public safety by reducing juvenile delinquency through operative prevention, intervention and treatment services that builds up families for a turn around of a brighter future of a troubled youth. The main functions of these programs as will be indicated in this paper are designed to reduce juvenile crime and protect public safety. These programs that will be stated main focused is to help those high-risk juveniles and those who display problem behaviors such as ungovernability, truancy, running away from home and other pre-delinquent behaviors. The state of Florida addresses these problems by contracting this delinquency programs prevention services and awarding grants to this local providers throughout the state of Florida.

The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) Program was aimed to follow a rehabilitative justice perspective. This rehabilitative justice perspective is a “concept intended to meet the needs of the victims/offenders with the intent of having the community involved” (McCold, 1995). LEAD carries out this concept in three ways: it aids the police/ social services by creating a resource base, removes the offenders from society, and provides aid to the offender.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) is requesting funds to provide juveniles a second chance through a community supervision reform program. The Department’s goal for requesting these funds is to reduce the number of juveniles currently on probation. As of 2013, there were over 383,600 juveniles on probation. This program would provide grants by implementing community supervision strategies that reduces recidivism, and improves the outcome for juveniles that are currently under community supervision. Funding for this program will increase

The need for the Jail Diversion Program arises from the increasing number of mental health problems among the jail population in the United States. According to Bell, Decker, & Sullivan (2013), 64 percent of the adults incarcerated in the US prisons in

Since the declaration of “the war on drugs”, society’s perspective relating to punishment of drug-involved offenders has been much too vindictive. Now, an offender is not allowed to be sent to treatment by a judge, he must go to jail. This is due to mandatory sentencing. Upcoming diversion programs are an excellent alternative to “hard time” for qualifying drug offenders. These programs are becoming very popular and evidence shows that they are greatly beneficial, not only to the accused, but to society as a whole. Diversion programs benefit many regarding the increase in community involvement and safer city streets, rehabilitation of offenders, and financial means. The criminal justice system is currently at a stand still in regards to convicted

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)

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

All programs have limitations to them and they are not all perfect. Downs, Robertson and Harrison did a study on the diversion program and the effectiveness it had in helping drug abusers. They observed 127 clients total, ages 13-17. They found that the diversion program they used with these adolescents was not effective and led to negative self-labels and more deviant behavior. They found that some adolescents that were sent to this program were not heavy drug users and had family issues, but due to the program being drug based it led to the negative self-label of drug abuser. This program didn’t have many restorative aspects to it. Diversion programs for juveniles should be separate from juveniles who need support to fix a drug addiction

In the 1970s diversion became a widely acclaimed strategy for reducing the numbers of offenders appearing in court and avoiding the stigma and labelling that resulted from judicial processes.

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.

The National Registry for Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP), which is preserved by the United States’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provide a list of all evidence-based practices that are beneficial for youth offenders (SAMHSA, 2017). Per SAMHSA (2017), between 50-70 percent of the youth in the juvenile justice system, have a mental disorder and up to 60 percent have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder (SAMHSA, 2017). Of those youth with dual diagnosis, approximately 30 percent have lost the ability to function as a result of their disorder (SAMHSA, 2017). Therefore, to determine the best treatment plan for youth offenders, evidence-based practices focus on the importance of

We have completed Yahmel’s assessment for consideration for placement in the Post-Dispositional program. Yahmel has been determined to be appropriate for an opportunity in the program.

Diversion programs are informal way of punishment provided by outside agencies to give the opportunity to minors to avoid criminal charges and criminal records. Youth who complete a diversion program successfully have significantly lower recidivism rate compare to youth referred to juvenile detention center. This study was conducted to identify factors associated with success after the Programa SHORTSTOP diversion program. Programa SHORTSTOP is a diversion program targeting at-risk Hispanic youth in Orange county. The sample in this study consisted of 66 youths, 13 reoffended minors reported by the Orange County probation department, 3 reoffend minors reported by the Orange County Bar Foundation, and 50 minors who passed the program and did