Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley (center left) delivers $5,000 in seized drug money to Alan Klein, Sr. (center right), vice president and chief operating officer of the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, along with teens from the Perkins Community Center in Dorchester. The money will fund a program that diverts certain court-involved Dorchester youth from incarceration through support and intervention.

BOSTON, April 26, 2012—Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley this week delivered $5,000 to a Dorchester program that diverts certain juvenile defendants from incarceration by connecting them with services, supervision, and advocacy.

Conley delivered the funds – drawn from cash and assets seized from drug traffickers in Suffolk County narcotics prosecutions – on April 24 to the Detention Diversion Advocacy Program, an initiative undertaken by the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps.

“As prosecutors, our primary mission is service” Conley said. “A program like this one, which can reduce the rates of incarceration among young, low-level offenders while still holding them accountable for their actions, doesn’t just benefit its participants. It benefits the entire community and our shared future by putting them back on track to succeed.”

The DDAP provides a voluntary alternative to court-ordered detention, providing young people with support and supervision through various partner agencies to reduce the disproportionate number of minority youth involved with the court system. It assesses participants’ needs; provides them with multiple daily contacts with interested adults; and offers a bridge to health care, education, counseling, employment opportunities, and other benefits. The program has a proven track record of moving youth away from juvenile delinquency.

Tuesday’s award was given through Conley’s Asset Forfeiture Reinvestment Program, which delivers seized drug money to Suffolk County non-profits that work to keep kids and teens off drugs, out of gangs, and away from violence.

“Every young person deserves a chance to succeed in life,” Conley said. “It shouldn’t matter what they look like or where they’re from. That’s an idea Bobby Kennedy believed in, it’s one that I believe in, and it’s one we can all get behind.”

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.