The juvenile diversion system was established with funding from the Riverside County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act of 2000, approved by the California Board of Corrections. This was a multi-year evaluation research project and was divided into five distinct areas to evaluate programs approved by the Board of Corrections, these being the Community-Based Probation Diversion, Youth Accountability Teams, the Gang Prevention-Project BRIDGE, and the Family Violence Prevention Program-P.A.C.T., Youth Accountability Boards, and Youth Courts. The evaluation was meant to collect baseline data and follow-up data to measure the success of each program, with the data including juvenile arrest rates per 100,000; arrest rates for program participants; incarceration rats; rate of completion of probation; probation violation rate; rate of completion of restitution; rate of completion of community service; and rates of truancy and family violence for those to which these apply. Performance benchmarks were to be developed for each program (Riverside County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (a.B. 1913) Projects, 2007, paras. 1-4).
In this way, the program could be assessed and shown to be effective in reducing arrest rates, more for participants than for the population at large, but noticeably for the region as a whole. These different programs offer different sorts of diversion for youthful offenders. In addition to keeping the young offender out of the larger justice system, the programs offer specific assistance for different issues. For instance, the Police Action Counseling Team (PACT) is a program designed to minimize the harmful effects of exposure to violence on children, primarily domestic violence, and clinicians on the scene assist the children and counsel them. The program was found to have a positive effect the understanding of child psychology by deputies. Youth Accountability Teams help with the diversion of youths for minor, non-criminal acts, for first offenders, and for those best managed by local social service agencies. The target population consists of pre-delinquents and misdemeanor referrals form age 12 through 17, notably those at risk for substance abuse, truancy, family conflict, mental health, school adjustment, or gang involvement.
Community-based corrections and alternative sentencing...
They are likely to become more central in the corrections system because they are necessary and cost-effective, and they will most certainly be expanded in spite of the fact that they seem to go against the grain of community sentiment for increased punishment. These approaches have been offered as a way of solving a problem and of reducing conflict within the system. Crime likely has a number of causes. Poverty is clearly a contributing factor if not a full cause of much crime. Crime is itself considered deviant behavior, behavior that is not the norm for society. Whether such deviant behavior is caused by psychological deviance is another issue. Crime can also be caused by various social problems related to violence in the home and elsewhere, and youth are especially vulnerable to this influence. The American juvenile-justice system was designed a century ago to reform kids found guilty of minor crimes, but more and more, the system has to cope with more violent crimes committed by younger people. The response on the part of lawmakers has been largely to siphon the worst of these young people out of the juvenile system by lowering the age at which juveniles charged with serious crimes can be tried in adult courts, a trend that seems to increase around election time. Diversion programs are in a sense more like the old model for juvenile justice, seeking intervention for less severe crimes in order to reform the offender and prevent further legal action.
References
Johnson, J.E. (1979, April 6). "The Impact of Juvenile Diversion: An Assessment Using Multiple Archival Perspectives."
Retrieved May 24, 2007 at http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED177411&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED177411.
Nadell-Hayes, S. & Macallair, D. (1995) Restructuring Juvenile Corrections in California: A Report to the Legislature. Retrieved May 24, 2007 at http://www.cjcj.org/pdf/restructuring.pdf.
Riverside County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (a.B. 1913) Projects (2007). Retrieved May 25, 2007 at http://ccjr.csusb.edu/ProgEvalRiversideProjects.htm.
