DA Conley Launches Juvenile Diversion Program with UMass Boston, Community Partners

BOSTON, Feb. 3, 2017–Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley joined the University of Massachusetts Boston, juvenile justice professionals, and partners from across the youth advocacy spectrum to announce an ambitious pilot program aimed at diverting juvenile offenders away from the criminal justice system and toward services that will improve their lives and their communities.

The Juvenile Alternative Resolution program will team Suffolk prosecutors with UMass Boston’s Restorative Justice Juvenile Mediation Project and McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, Action for Boston Community Development Changing Tracks Initiative, MissionSAFE, the Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center Bridging the Gap program, Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps Detention Diversion Advocacy Corps, and the Justice Resource Institute SMART Team with the goal of reducing juvenile involvement in the criminal justice system in Suffolk County – and the barriers to social, academic, and employment success that can follow.

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley (at podium) discusses the Juvenile Alternative Resolution pilot program launched by his office with assistance from UMass Boston and Boston-area youth service providers. The JAR will divert certain moderate- to high-level juvenile offenders away from prosecution with a goal of balancing rehabilitation and accountability – and without incurring a criminal record that, Conley said, “can sometimes do more harm than good.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley (at podium) discusses the Juvenile Alternative Resolution pilot program launched by his office with assistance from UMass Boston and Boston-area youth service providers. The JAR will divert certain moderate- to high-level juvenile offenders away from prosecution with a goal of balancing rehabilitation and accountability – and without incurring a criminal record that, Conley said, “can sometimes do more harm than good.”

The Juvenile Alternative Resolution pilot program will screen eligible juvenile offenders to determine their risk level and service needs in order to connect them with individually-tailored support networks. Juveniles who complete their three- to nine-month diversions successfully will see their cases resolved without convictions that, Conley said, can sometimes do more harm than good.

Juvenile diversion is not new to Suffolk County or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Approximately 25 percent of juvenile cases are informally diverted each year across Suffolk County, and the state successfully reduced juvenile commitments by 73 percent in just over a decade.  Formal diversion programs in Massachusetts have historically been geared toward first-time offenders, however, or offered limited services to ensure the young person’s post-diversion success.  The JAR program will accept a greater range of cases, focusing on moderate- to high-level cases.

“When we first contemplated this program, we knew we’d be taking a chance on some cases and some defendants. But without taking risks, there are no rewards – and the potential rewards here are enormous,” Conley said.  “Today, the benefit is to individual juveniles in their own isolated cases.  Tomorrow, the benefit will be to the families and communities of adults who got a helping hand in the right direction when it really mattered most.”

Click here to read DA Conley’s full remarks announcing the JAR pilot program.

“We hope that with this effort, not only can we together improve justice in Suffolk County, but also provide a model for other jurisdictions in the state that want to expand diversion and restorative justice opportunities,” said UMass Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley. “Restorative justice is a movement that is growing nationally as well as globally, and we are proud to be spearheading the restorative justice juvenile diversion project with the District Attorney’s Office.”

With the launch of the JAR pilot program, informal diversion of low-level offenders will continue in Suffolk County, but individualized diversion services will now be available to juveniles who can benefit from more structured intervention. The program’s impact will be quantified by UMass Boston McCormack Graduate School of Policy & Global Studies, which will measure recidivism rates, intervention outcomes, and other data in order to gauge the program’s success.

 

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