Diversion

Orange County Team (2024 TJP)

• Description: The Orange County Team seeks to bolster diversion offerings, including addressing diversion through preventative work at the dependency level, enhancing data collection and expanding the diversion unit in the Orange County Probation Department, and establishing partnerships with community-based diversion programs. To do so, the team will partner with the Orangewood Foundation, law enforcement, education stakeholders, community organizations, courts, and attorneys.

• Contacts:

  • Isabel Apkarian, Judge, Superior Court of California

  • Margarita Cervantes, Peer Navigator, Project Kinship

  • Katherine David, Assistant District Attorney, Orange County District Attorney

  • Nancy Genovese, Senior Social Services Supervisor, County of Orange, California

  • Isabell Gutierrez, Division Director, Orange county Probation Department

  • Norma Jaime, Supervising Probation Officer, Orange County Probation Department

  • Jessica Johnson, Chief Deputy Probation Officer, Orange County Probation Department

  • Tiffany Mitchell, Chief Programs Officer, Orangewood Foundation

  • Mahonri Sapiga, Human Services Deputy Director, County of Orange

  • Van-Anh To, Deputy Public Defender, Orange County Public Defender's Office

  • Martha Trujillo, Youth Support Specialist- Outreach Coordinator Project Choice, Orangewood Foundation

Harris County, TX (2022 TJP) 

• Description: The Harris County team seeks to expand and bolster community-based services and supports to provide non-juvenile justice administered diversion approaches, ultimately creating a diversion system where services are provided by community-based entities to meet youths’ identified needs. To do so, the team will pilot a diversion program in partnership with Harris County Resources for Children and Adults (HCRCA), secure local funding for a Youth Diversion Center, and allocate funds from the Harris County Youth Justice Reinvestment Fund to support existing community-based diversion services.

• Contacts:

  • Amanda Downing, Assistant Public Defender, Harris County Public Defender's Office

  • Caesar Gerrard, Juvenile Probation Officer, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department

  • Henry Gonzales, Executive Director, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department

  • Gabriela Lastres, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo

  • Brian Martinez, Administrator, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department

  • Michelle Moore, Judge, Harris County 314th District Court

  • Allen Otto, Chief Attorney, Harris County District Attorney's Office

  • Rafael Sarango, Executive Director, Center for Urban Transformation

  • Latricia St. Jules, Family Engagement Specialist, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department

  • Steve Willing, Deputy Director, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department

Muscatine County, IA (2018 RED)

• • Description: The Capstone Project is focused on preventing youth from entering the juvenile justice system by developing and expanding diversionary options for first time misdemeanor offenders. The team will develop a MOU with local law enforcement and Juvenile Court Services to divert youth, provide diversion training to law enforcement officers, and engage families in the diversion process.

  • Contacts:

    • Joan Black, Assistant County Attorney Muscatine County Attorney

    • Scott Hobart, Chief Juvenile Court Officer Judicial Branch, State of Iowa

    • Shauna Koppenhaver, Assistant Principal Muscatine Community Schools

    • Shawn Lucas, Juvenile Court Officer III State of Iowa

    • Nicole Mann, Eastern Iowa Decategorization Coordinator Scott County Kids

    • Whitni Pena, Police Officer City Of Muscatine

    • Mike Sterner, Bi-Lingual At-Risk Coordinator Muscatine Community School District

    • Kim Warren, Aligned Impact Muscatine Director United Way of Muscatine

Clark County, WA (2016 SJP)

• • Description: To develop a restorative school-based diversion program and pilot in 2 high schools. Strategies include: 1) creating a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the local school district and law enforcement agencies, and 2) developing diversion manual and relevant training materials, incorporating trauma-informed practices.

    • Update (2017): The team is in the process of selecting schools to participate in the pilot program. The Evergreen Public School just released a Restorative Practice Implementation Guide to all principals interested in creating an implementation plan to introduce restorative practices, and this guide will be invaluable in laying the groundwork to help expand the Capstone Project into other schools. In summer 2017, the team invited Strategies for Youth to present at the local law enforcement council meeting to introduce the Policing the Teen Brain in Schools curriculum (an evidence-based training curriculum), which was well received. The group has a tentative plan to bring Strategies for Youth to Clark County in 2018.

    • Update (2024): In 2018, the team contracted with Rekah Strong to provide diversity, equity and implicit bias training to Juvenile Court staff as well as with Strategies for Youth to provide Policing the Teen Brain in Schools training for SROs, school administrators, and security officers. In 2019 and 2020, they partnered with local experts to run a School Justice Partnership training with school security staff. The team also held Restorative Practices trainings for Evergreen and Vancouver Public Schools and the Boys and Girls Clubs of SW Washington, and this training is now held annually. Lastly, a Juvenile Justice Council was created by juvenile detention staff. This Council includes the Sheriff, prosecutor, judges, defense attorneys, county councilors, and the Chief of Police of Vancouver, and provides a space for these multidisciplinary stakeholders to learn about current trends in youth justice and collaborate to meet their youth population's needs.

  • Contacts:

    • • Shane Gardner, Manager of School Safety and Security, Evergreen Public Schools

      • Jodi Martin, Program Coordinator, Clark County Juvenile Court

Sumter County, Alabama (2016 Diversion)

• • Description:  To prevent youth from entering the juvenile justice system by enhancing and expanding the current prevention initiatives. These initiatives include providing a multi-tiered prevention and intervention program and developing partnerships with local community businesses and county agencies to fund and implement prevention programs.

  • Contacts:

    • • Tammy Montgomery, Sumter County District Court Judge, State of AL

      • Cora Hutchins, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer, Sumter County District 

      • Vanessa Fitch, Senior Judicial Assistant, Sumter County District

Humboldt County, Nevada (2016 Diversion)

• • Description: To develop and adopt a common intake and referral process and operational policy for the existing diversion programs by developing a diversion dispositional matrix, creating operational policies based on the assessment and dispositional matrix, and educating key stakeholders on the diversion process.

  • Contacts:

    • Irma Aboytes Tanner, Judge, Humboldt County

    • Tim Grady, Juvenile Probation Officer, 7th Judicial District, Humboldt County Juvenile Services

    • Brooke O'Byrne, Specialty Court Director, Humboldt County

Mohave County, Arizona (2016 Diversion)

• • Description: Update and streamline the current diversion program in Mohave County and promote its use through revising the diversion manual, workbooks, and forms; conduct internal training on diversion protocols for all probation officers and offer training for partners in education on diversion process; and develop family surveys to continue improve the diversion program.

  • Contacts: 

    • Dale Herren, Deputy Probation Officer, Mohave County Probation

    • Terra Sears, Deputy Probation Officer, Mohave County Probation *Note: Terra Sears moved to the adult side of probation, and is no longer involved in the project.

Williston, North Dakota (2016 Diversion)

• • Description: To create a diversion program with procedures manual and adopt empirical screening and assessment tools to help reduce the number of youth entering the juvenile justice system for status offenses and reduce the number of youth placed in residential facilities. 

    • • Update (2018): Given the influx of residents moving into the area and the increased need for services, the team created the Youth Diversion Program, which is offered to youth with behavioral issues but without charges. In addition to MAYSI-2, the team added GAIN to help identify youth's behavioral health issues, and is focused on bolstering their mental health training for staff at the Assessment Center. Furthermore, the team is collaborating with the Juvenile Court and community organizations to streamline the referral process, thereby increasing the number of youth eligible for diversion and services. Preliminary data indicated that 80% of the youth that the Assessment Center served were female, but no other demographic pattern was observed. The recidivism rate for youth participated in the diversion program was 52% in 2016, and 47% in 2018. 

  • Contacts:

    • Marsha Hughes, Director, North West Youth Assessment Center

    • Shawn Teske, Assistant Director, North West Youth Assessment Center

Orange County, California (2016 Diversion)

• • Description: Work with Community Service Programs (CSP; changed to "Waymakers"), law enforcement, and schools to provide early intervention services and divert youth from formal system involvement. Additional strategies include service mapping, implementing OYAS, developing a Diversion Intervention Matrix, training probation staff and key stakeholders on the new diversion tools, and engaging youth and families in the diversion process.

    • Update (2019): Screening, Assessment, and Placement: As a result of their Capstone Project, the team has implemented revisions to some of their juvenile diversion programming. CSP/Waymaker began to identify youth's criminogenic and therapeutic needs through expanded assessment tools, and the probation department staff are trained in OYAS, with a focus on OYAS' Diversion tool. Relatedly, the probation department, particularly its diversion units, has received OYAS training as well and uses OYAS to assess youth at the time of intake to determine if youth should be formally processed or diverted. The probation department also designed a culturally-sensitive diversion service referral matrix, which will be reviewed and updated annually. In addition, the team created a County Service Referral Matrix for all juvenile probation officers and the county juvenile court to use as a resource when making referrals. Data Tracking and Utilization: To ensure accurate data collection and tracking, CSP is utilizing a logic model to link their program goals to youth's emotional and behavioral outcomes; the probation department is simultaneously tracking diversion rate as well as overrides. In early 2018, the team collaborated with the OCPD Research Unit to examine the OYAS screening and assessment tools, and found OYAS to be ineffective. As a result, the OCPD Research Unit developed a new screening/assessment tool, JIAS Risk Assessment, which will be implemented in October 2019. Specific override protocols are put in place to ensure the fidelity of JIAS Risk Assessment implementation. Training and Education: The team is also working to collaborate and educate key stakeholders, providing 43 Diversion Legal Awareness Class to 435 youth and 472 family members as of September 2017. Subsequently, the Youth and the Law class has become a permanent part of the Juvenile Court Services Division as a diversion option.  The team is also invested in training CPS/Waymakers, probation, and law enforcement staff on diversion best practices as well as related research findings. On-going staff training topics include restorative justice training and programming, trauma-responsive approaches, racial and ethnic disparity trainings, adolescent brain development, family engagement, Thinking for a Change, and University of Cincinnati's Effective Practices in Probation (EPICS). In addition, the team also provides evidence-based interventions training such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing.

  • Contacts:

    • Heather Benjamin, Director of Youth Development Programs, Community Service Programs Inc.

    • Elizabeth Bunetta, Deputy Probation Officer II, Orange County Probation Department

    • Remmy Chang, Deputy Probation Officer, Orange County Probation Department

    • Andy Hamer, Supervising Probation Officer, Orange County Probation Department

    • Alisha Jackson, Deputy Probation Officer II, Orange County Probation Department

    • Christina Kampczyk, Supervising Probation Officer, Orange County Probation Department

    • Christina Ronald, Assistant Division Director, Orange County Probation Department

    • Donnamarie Rufrano, Deputy Probation Officer II, Orange County Probation Department

Connecticut (2015 Diversion)

• • Description: Aims to reduce youth contact with the juvenile justice system, particularly youth with behavioral health needs through creating and implementing standardized protocols and guidance for the Juvenile Review Boards (JRB), identifying appropriate screening tools, enhancing school and community-based services, and utilizing restorative justice practices.

    • Update (2017): 1) Sustainability: The team members are serving on an early iteration of the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee (JJPOC) Diversion Workgroup, a legislatively bound committee aiming to reform the juvenile justice system in Connecticut. The team has dovetailed their Capstone Project within the JJPOC Diversion Workgroup and subgroups. As a result, JJPOC Diversion Workgroup prioritized and participated in several projects related to the team's Capstone. 2) Creating standardized protocols: The team has completed the JRB Protocols and Procedures Guide, which was released/introduced at the Statewide JRB/LIST Conference in June 2016, and copyrighted in late 2016. Each JRB in the state is reviewing the guide separately on their own schedule, but the Juvenile Justice Liaison has continued to provide training and technical assistance. 3) Identifying screening tools: The team has done a thorough review of various screening tools and recommended CT to go forward with the Ohio Scales for Youth, which is already being used in several systems in some CT state agencies and community-based organizations. The team has also identified to concurrent projects in the jurisdiction working on improving the screening process. One project is an initiative supported by A-SBIRT grant, specifically looking at substance use screening for adolescents and training on the use of A-SBIRT and CRAFFT. The other project is a 2-year planning grant, IMPACCT, which is aiming to increase access to treatment and improve quality of services. This grant has the potential to lead to a 3-year implementation grant that can fund the development of screening tools. 4) Utilizing restorative practices: The team is facilitating restorative practices trainings across CT, and the School-Based Diversion Initiative is promoting restorative justice training and collaboration in 12 CT schools between September 2016 and June 2017. In addition, the team will help create a consortium of Restorative Justice practitioners. The collaboration is expected to expand to six more school districts and up to 18 schools in the next two years.

  • Contacts:

    • Erica Bromley, Juvenile Justice Liaison, CT Youth Services Association

    • Yecenia Casiano, Project Coordinator, Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, Inc.

    • Sara Jeffries, Research Staff, Tow Youth Justice

    • Daisy Ortiz, Program Manager, State of CT Judicial Branch, Court Support Services Division

    • Steven Smith, Program Manager, CT Department of Children and Families

    • Catherine (Kitty) Tyrol, Curriculum Developer/Instructor, Tow Youth Justice

Santa Monica, California (2015 Diversion)

• • Description: Aims to minimize the exposure to the formal criminal justice system and improve long- term outcomes for juveniles in Santa Monica through pre-charge diversion practices, utilizing screening and assessment tools, connecting youth to appropriate services based on assessment results, and creating an alternative structure of accountability that formalizes the counsel and release process.

  • Contacts:

    • Roy Brown, Police Detective, Santa Monica Police Department

    • Ana Giocondra Jara, Youth and Family Services, Santa Monica Police Department

    • Wendell Shirley, Captain, Santa Monica Police Department

South Carolina (2015 SJP)

• • Description: To encourage the implementation of formal court diversion programs, particularly for truant youth, through developing a diversion guidebook and providing training and technical assistance on diversion program development for sites that are interested in creating a diversion program. Targets truancy diversion programs.

  • Contact: Celita Hastie, Juvenile Justice Project Coordinator, USC Children's Law Center

Cameroon (2015 Diversion)

• • Description: Create a juvenile justice system in Cameroon that focuses on developing diversion opportunities through identifying key partners to establish an implementation team and developing a diversion pilot site in Bamenda.

  • Contact: Freds Klainda Gama, Human Rights Defender, Center for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy

Weld County, Colorado (2015 Diversion)

• • Description: Develop a detailed operations manual that reflects the historical policies and procedures and current functions of the Weld County Juvenile Diversion Program through creating standardized criteria for diversion acceptance, adopting a screening tool, and formalizing key decision points.

  • Contact: Kirsta Britton, Director of Diversion, Weld County District Attorney's Office

Sturgis, South Dakota (2015 Diversion)

• • Description: Develop and expand a structured, multi-level diversion program for identified youth in the 4th Judicial Circuit by providing evidence-based community service to non-violent diverted youth and establishing a monthly dual county diversion work group to support the implementation of diversion services.

    • Update (2017): The team has recruited the support from the Chief of Police of Sturgis Police Department, who also sits on the board chair for Actions for the Betterment of the Community (ABC). With the new Senate Bill 73 that went into effect January 2017, providing evidence-based community services is essential to the success of youth in the juvenile justice system. The initiative calls for the implementation of evidence-based programs such as those ABC provides. The team implemented the proposed diversion program and expanded the diversion program to Belle Fourche, SD and Lead/Deadwood, SD, as well as the Spearfish School District. Between October 2015 and September 2016, 137 received Delinquency Prevention programming; of those youth, approximately 66% of youth exhibit a decrease in substance use during the program, and 11.5% were arrested 6 to 12 months after exiting the program. To date, ABC has served 352 youth in the school districts.

  • Contacts:

    • Dadra Avery, Professional School Counselor, Meade 46-1 School District

    • Kara Graveman, Executive Director, Action for the Betterment of the Community

    • Benjamin Mumm, Patrolman, Sturgis Police Department *NOTE* Ben is no longer with Sturgis Police Department.

Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota (2015 Diversion)

• • Description: Create a uniform multi-jurisdiction diversion program that takes into consideration of disproportionality and socioeconomic status to help establish an equitable diversion program.

  • Contacts:

    • Sergio Andrade, Diversion Manager/Counselor, St. Paul Youth Services

    • Gwendolyn DeGroff-Gunter, Juvenile Outreach Coordinator, Metro Transit Police Department

Baltimore, Maryland DJS (2015 Diversion)

• • Description: To increase the use of pre-court services for low and moderate risk youth through reviewing and modifying intake/pre-court supervision policies and holding weekly training and meeting with intake staff to provide case review and to identify front-end diversion opportunities.

  • Contacts:

    • Alycia Capozello, Lead Attorney, Maryland Office of the Public Defender

    • Richard Hart, Community Programs Coordinator, MD DJS

    • Michelle Mattadeen-Dixon, Case Management Specialist Supervisor, MD DJS 

    • Quiana Muse, Case Management Specialist Supervisor, MD DJS 

    • Leslie Shell, Assistant Regional Director, MD DJS

Fairfield County, Ohio (2015 Diversion)

• • • Description: To formalize and improve the process and procedures of the Fairfield County Diversion Accountability Program through:

      • • Developing and improving protocols and procedures and adopting a comprehensive operations manual.

        • Expanding the use of an evidence-based behavioral health screening tool (MAYSI-2).

        • Reviewing and formalizing data tracking definitions and policies regarding the use of admission for prosecution.

        • Planning and executing a Juvenile Justice Summit for Fairfield County schools, law enforcement, and child protective services communities.

  • Update (2017): The team has accomplished all of their Capstone goals, with the exception of developing a diversion manual. The manual has gone through several revisions and is in the process of being finalized. In addition, effective April 1, 2016, for diversion cases that are unsuccessful and are subsequently filed with the court, the admission made during the diversion intake process cannot be used for prosecution. Overall, the Capstone Project has shown very promising results. It resulted in the expansion of diversion oriented program as well as reduction in the number of youth held in detention (from an average of 17 youth per day in 2013 to 6 youth in 2017). The program completion rate is almost 90%, and recidivism for the diversion program is 6.47% (compared to the projected recidivism rate of 25% prior to the development of the program).

  • Update (2024): The team built upon their original action steps to create the Fairfield County Juvenile Court Diversion Program, including increased efforts to bolster community-based diversion opportunities. The team created a Diversion Standard Operating Manual that serves as the basis for staff and community partner training and outlines the objectives of the Diversion Services Array of Interventions. They also transitioned to the MAYSI-2 as their assessment tool after receiving technical assistance as part of the SBIRT in Juvenile Justice Setting initiative and have recently transitioned to a new court-wide data collection platform. The team implemented a common definition of recidivism and instituted a policy that admissions made during the diversion intake process cannot be used for prosecution if a youth is unsuccessful in diversion and subsequently filed with the court. Lastly, the team held Juvenile Justice Summits in 2017, 2018, and 2019 to bring together local youth justice stakeholders on specific topics.

In 2021, Fairfield County Juvenile Court became a JDAI site, and two workgroups were formed to undertake the work of the original Diversion Team.

• • Contacts:

    • Judge Terre Vandervoort, Probate/Juvenile Court Judge, Fairfield County Juvenile Court

    • Michelle Edgar, Magistrate, Fairfield County Juvenile Court

    • Tara Cockerham, Diversion Team Lead, Fairfield County Juvenile Court

    • Becky Edwards, Director of Assessment and Intervention Center, Fairfield County Juvenile Court

    • Lisa Long, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Fairfield County Juvenile Court

Seminole County, Florida (2015 MSI)

• • Description: To create and implement a diversion program for adolescents previously exposed to violence in the dependency program in order to prevent them from entering the delinquency system. This project will provide evidence-based intervention services to adolescents and families, expand the acceptance criteria, and increase referral agencies for the Youth Intervention Services (YIS) Community Prevention Program. Dedicating four case managers that will work exclusively with adolescents with a history of exposure to violence while involved with the dependency system.

  • Contact: Omar Mestre, Supervisor, Seminole County Sheriff's Office

Prince George's County, Maryland (2015 RED)

• • Description: To streamline the school diversion process as well as track and analyze data with a focus on racial and ethnic disparity issues. The project include implementing a tracking system that collects information on school-based diversion program referral and outcomes, creating a central intake unit to implement standardized referral and assessment protocols, and providing training front-line staff.

  • Contacts:

    • Rex Barrett, Director of Security, Prince George's County Public Schools

    • Tara Jackson, Principal Deputy State's Attorney, Office of the State's Attorney for Prince George's County

    • Shanelle Johnson, Statewide DMC Coordinator, Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention

    • Capri Rankin, Juvenile Detention, Maryland Department of Juvenile Services

    • Lyrica Welch, DMC Coordinator, Prince George's County 

Scott County, Iowa (2015 RED)

• • Description: Develop a diversion program for first time youth offenders of non-traffic, simple misdemeanor offenses. The main components of the project include: 1) implementing a new policy that requires all officers to divert eligible youth, 2) training for key partners and front-line staff, and 3) developing and implementing diversion classes

    • Update (2017): The Capstone Project was implemented starting January 2016. Since then, there has been a significant decrease in juvenile court referrals and youth of color who are charged for non-traffic, simple misdemeanor offenses. In 2016, a total of 84 youth were referred to the diversion program, with approximately 56 percent African American, 13 percent Hispanic, 26 percent Caucasian, and 5 percent other. The recidivism data showed that minority youth has a higher recidivism rate after completing the diversion program, compared to their white counterpart. The team is working to continue addressing RED issues through data tracking, expansion of diversionary programs, and gender-specific diversion programs.

  • Contacts:

    • • Lori Frick, Service Area Manager, Iowa Department of Human Services

      • Latrice Lacey, Executive Director, Davenport Civil Rights Commission

      • Molli Nickerson, Coordinator, Scott County Kids

      • Shawn Roth, Detective Sergeant, Davenport Police Department

      • Robert Scott, Executive Director, Davenport Schools

      • Judge Cheryl Traum, District Associate Judge, State of Iowa

      • David Tristan, Juvenile Court Officer, Juvenile Court Services

      • Julie Walton, Assistant County Attorney, Scott County Attorney's Office

New York City, New York (2014 MSI)

• • Description: Create and pilot a restorative justice panel as a diversionary option for youth ages 7-17, who are arrested for low-level offense(s) and have been referred for prosecution to the New York City Law Department in the South Bronx.

  • Contact:

    • Erin Gover, Assistant Deputy Borough Chief, New York City Law Department 

Raymond Coalition for Youth, New Hampshire (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description: Reduce recidivism specifically related to youth's drug and alcohol involvement through the restructure of an existing diversion program. The team will redefine the current My Choice Diversion Program, establish a formal diversion review committee, develop MOU with key partners, revamp the data tracking system, and develop a toolkit/manual for implementation, replication, and marketing.

  • Contacts:

    • Celeste Clark, Executive Director, Raymond Coalition for Youth

    • Mary Duff, Paraprofessional, Raymond School District SAU33

    • Susan Frotton, Police Officer/School Resource Officer, Raymond Police Department

    • Tricia Wentworth, Guidance Counselor, Raymond High School

Prince George's County, Maryland (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • • Description: Reduce school-based arrests, recidivism, and over-representation of minority youth through the development of a pilot school diversion program. Key components of the school-based diversion program include developing MOUs with partners, establishing criteria for diversion eligibility, training school resource officers, and collecting data on race/ethnicity, rate of recidivism, school-based arrests, youth grades, and graduation rates.

      • Update (2018): The team piloted a school-based diversion program at a local PG County high school for students who committed non-restitution misdemeanor offenses. School staff work with SROs to identify and refer eligible youth to the County Department of Family Services for assessment and services. In addition to collecting data on race and ethnicity, the team has distinguished itself by gathering information on students' social and economic status, sexual orientation, and language spoken at home to identify disparities and disproportionality in various subgroups.

• • Contacts:

    • • Kwabena Tuffour, Assistant Regional Director, Maryland Department of Juvenile Services

      • Lyrica Welch, DMC Coordinator, Prince George's County

Fairfax County, Virginia (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description: The team plans to reduce racial and ethnic disparity at the point of referral through piloting a restorative justice program and redesigning the current intake process. The team is in the process of developing a risk/needs matrix for diversion decision making and will pilot the newly developed matrix.

    • Update (2016): The team has made significant progress in facilitating multi-system collaboration, specifically between the Fairfax County Government, Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court, police departments in Fairfax County and in surrounding neighborhoods, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Department of Criminal Justice, and community partners. An MOU was signed for the restorative justice efforts, and the team help pass HB541, which allows police records to be shared for the purpose of juvenile diversion. The team has also developed a juvenile intake disposition matrix, which makes use of the screening and assessment results from GAIN-SS and YASI. To reduce racial and ethnic disparities in Fairfax County, the team changed the diversion eligibility to increase opportunities for youth of color to be diverted - the maximum number of charges allowed for diversion was increased from 3 to 5, and removed restitution as a factor for diversion eligibility.

  • Contacts:

    • Elizabeth Jones, Assistant Unit Director, Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court

    • Erin Schaible, Lt. Colonel Deputy Chief of Patrol, Fairfax County Police Department

    • Jamie (James) McCarron, Deputy Director, Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court *NOTE* Jamie has retired, and Matt Thompson has taken over as support for the Capstone Project.

    • Katrina Smith, Unit Director, East County Probation Services, Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court

    • Lori Winter, Deputy Director, Intake Services, Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court

    • Tracey Chiles, Unit Director, Center County Probation Services, Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court

    • Tracey Jenkins, Juvenile Justice Specialist, Virginia Department of Criminal Justice *NOTE* Tracey has been reassigned to a different position and is no longer directly working on this Capstone Project.

    • Vickie Shoap, Restorative Justice Specialist, Fairfax County Public Schools

    • William Fulton, Sergeant, Fairfax County Police Department

Lawrence Hall Youth Services, Chicago, Illinois (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description: Collaborating with the City of Chicago to develop and implement grant-funded diversion programs for justice-involved youth. The diversion programs include components such as mentoring, Civic Leadership Curriculum, and other support services to better prepare older adolescents for the transition into adulthood.

    • Update (2024): Though may of the programs originally contemplated in the Capstone are no longer being offered by the City of Chicago, in late 2015, the team moved their community-based and prevention operations to the South Shore neighborhood. Since then, the team has expanded their services in line with their Capstone. This includes the development of a full continuum of workforce development programs, which serve 350 youth annually. For justice-involved youth, they also offer case management, mentoring, therapy, cultural immersion activities, civic engagement, and therapy. Additionally, the team runs a Juvenile Reporting Center through Cook County Juvenile Courts as an alternative to incarceration. The teams serves over 550 youth in South Shore each year.

  • Contacts:

    • Kara Teeple, Chief Operating Officer - Lawrence Hall Youth Services

    • Mitchell Sandy, Vice President of Support Services - Lawrence Hall Youth Services

    • Sean McGinnis, Vice President of Specialized Services - Lawrence Hall Youth Services

Sheridan County, Wyoming (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description: Reduce recidivism through identification of types and levels of services need for youth in diversion programs and implementation of a community mentoring program for youth referred to diversion.

  • Contacts: 

    • Sheryl Bunting, Deputy County and Prosecuting Attorney, Sheridan County Attorney's Office

    • Carol Clark, Truancy Probation Officer, Sheridan County Justice Office *NOTE* Carol has resigned from her position.

Saint Lucia (2014 DIV)

• Description: Reduce the number of youth appearing before the juvenile court for stealing, violence, sexual crimes, and substance use, improve youth's social behaviors, and increase youth's vocational skills through a Court Diversion Program led by the Saint Lucia First Judicial District. The Court Diversion Program will include strategies such as the use of ICT/numeracy/literacy education, substance abuse counseling, and corporate partnerships.

• Contact: Cuthbert Henry, Probation Officer, Government of Saint Lucia

Thailand (2014 YIC)

• • Description: Create diversion program for youth to be served by community-based organizations.

  • Contact: Kattiya Ratanadilok, Head of Research and Development - Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection

Multnomah County, Oregon (2014 RED)

• • Description: Implement diversion program in pilot site—the Rockwood neighborhood in the city of Gersham in Multnomah County; Diversion program will provide services to youth with low-level offenses.  Will replace the previous program, which simply sent these youth a warning letter in the mail.

    • • Capstone Update (2018): Since July 2015, the diversion program has been operating as a fully funded, countywide program and has involved collaboration with several key partners. The team has executed a contract with Portland State University in 2015 to evaluate their pilot program in the Rockwood area, and the October 2017 report suggested preliminary success, showing that African American youth who participated in the CHI-EI had a significant lower recidivism rate compared to their historic matched sample counter part. An analysis for a second cohort of CHI-EI youth were completed in 2018, and researchers found similar results from the 2017 report. Based on the 2018 findings, the team is currently working on increasing family and youth engagement efforts. The team's work has been highlighted in the Police Chief Magazine in June 2015.

  • Contacts:

• • • Lorena Campbell, Intergovernmental Liaison - East Multnomah County School Districts

    • Brian Detman, DMC Coordinator - Dept. of Community Justice/Juvenile Services Division *Note: Brian is no longer with the Department.

    • Tashia Hager, Lieutenant - Portland Police Bureau, East Precinct

    • Joe McFerrin, President/CEO - Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center/Rosemary Anderson High School

    • Maureen McKnight, Circuit Court Judge - Multnomah County Circuit Court

    • Christina McMahan, Juvenile Services Division Director - Multnomah County Dept. of Community Justice *NOTE* Christina has a change of position and is now the Director of the Clackamas County Juvenile Department.

    • Carmen Rubio, Executive Director - Latino Network

    • Judy Shiprack, Multnomah County Commissioner, District 3 - Multnomah County

Shelby County, Tennessee (2014 RED)

• • Description: Develop an alternative to summons diversion program for youth who are facing charges of domestic violence or domestic assault, as this is the leading source of summons and referrals to detention in Shelby County; Develop additional community-based resources for these youth who would be diverted; Providing training to police officers to decrease influence of racial bias in decision making at the relevant referral decision point, especially with respect to this type of offense, including trauma-informed responses and practices.

    • Update (2015): The Capstone team offered training to the Memphis police academy regarding various topics related to the juvenile justice system, including topics such as adolescent development, history of juvenile court in Memphis, juvenile arrests, assessment for detention, etc. The team proposed a program to allow troubled youth to obtain targeted treatment services outside of the system without a criminal record.

  • Contacts:

    • Donna Armstard, Supervisor, Juvenile Defender Unit - Shelby County

    • Kerri Campbell, Team Manager - Mayor's Innovation Delivery Team

    • Larry Hill, Shelby County Sheriff's Office - Shelby County Sheriff's Office

    • Lisa Hill, DMC Coordinator - Shelby County Mayor's Administration

    • Kimbrell Owens, JDAI Site Coordinator - Memphis and Shelby County Juvenile Court

    • Malrie Shelton, Project Director - Defending Childhood Initiative - Network for Overcoming Violence and Abuse (DCI-NOVA)

    • Altha Stewart, Executive Director - Just Care Family Unit

West Virginia (2014 RED)

• • Description: Implement additional diversion options such as home detention, evening reporting centers, electronic monitoring, wireless monitoring, and mentoring in a pilot jurisdiction to reduce RED.

  • Contact: Arnold "Lee" Leftwich, Director; DMC Coordinator - MUSTER Project, Inc. *NOTE* Lee has left the position and is no longer working on this project.

District of Columbia (Sept. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description:  Create a sustainable diversion program for youth in DC arrested for domestic violence (DV), with an emphasis on developing a uniform and objective standards for evaluating diversion efficacy that will be replicated across the District’s diversion system.

    • Update (2017): Agencies involved in the decisions to prosecute and divert cases have adopted diversion as an option for youth in DV cases - In April 2017, D.C. Code 16-1031 was amended to divert youth under the age of 18 for intrafamily offense. Between June 2014 and September 2017, ACE has received 128 DV referrals and served 121 of the 128. The outcomes of the diversion is promising. 40% of the referred youth had improved school attendance, 89% of the youth improved in their daily behavior and function assessment (through the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale), and 73% did not have further legal involvement after completing ACE. 

  • Contacts:

    • Hilary Cairns, Program Manager - PASS and TPAP Programs

    • Daniel Hickson, Commander - Metropolitan Police Department

    • Tania Mortensen, Special Assistant - DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services

    • Terri Odom, Director - Court Social Services

    • R. Daniel Okonkwo, Executive Director - DC Lawyers for Youth

    • Jamie Rodriguez, Juvenile Services Program Coordinator - Public Defender Service for the District Columbia

    • David Rosenthal, Senior Assistant Attorney General - Office of the Attorney General

Nebraska (Sept. 2014 Diversion)

• • • Description: Create a state-wide manual of diversion guidelines and implement pilot diversion programs in three pilot sites throughout the state, including York County, the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, and the Panhandle region.

      • • 1) Create a toolkit and guidebook of best practices that will allow diversion programs throughout the state to align their policies and procedures.

        • 2) Implement new diversion programs or implement improvements to existing diversion programs in three pilot regions in the state of Nebraska.

    • Update (2016): The team has published and released a statewide juvenile diversion guidebook in May 2015 to ensure that diversion program implementation in the jurisdiction is consistent with best practices recommended, and is working on creating tool kits with examples of documents for easy implementation. The team is concurrently working with 2 pilot sites, Panhandle and Winnebago Tribe, to implement their diversion programs. In Panhandle, the team is working with 6 counties to develop 5 new diversion programs; the programs have been implemented and the sites are collecting outcome data. Winnebago has incorporated assessment tools into their diversion program and is working with the Tribe to potentially implement a data collection system; outcome data for this site is not yet available.

• • Contacts:

    • Robert Denton, Chief Probation Officer - State of Nebraska

    • Cynthia Kennedy, Director - University of Nebraska Omaha

    • Anne Hobbs, Director of Juvenile Diversion Programs - Nebraska Crime Commission

    • Amy Hoffman, Director, Community Aid Program - Nebraska Crime Commission

    • Denise Kracl, County Attorney - Colfax County

    • Shakil Malik, Deputy County Attorney - Douglas County Attorney

    • Elaine Menzel, Legal Counsel - Nebraska Association of County Officials

    • Monica Miles-Steffens, Director of Placement-Court Services - Nebraska Probation Administration

    • Victoria Thompson, Program Manager - CEDARS Youth Services

San Mateo County, CA (Sept. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description: Improve current diversion program by implementing a screening tool to determine eligibility for the program, a multi-disciplinary assessment tool to match youth with appropriate services, program evaluation (gathering and analyzing data on outcomes), a policy regarding expungement of records regarding a youth’s police record, and appropriate policies and MOUs. 

    • Capstone Update (August 2015): The team formed a multi-disciplinary assessment team, and the team chose to use CANS to assess youth and match them with services. Since inception of the diversion program, there have been over 40 youth participant with over 95% success rate in completing the 6-month program and over 95% success rate in youth not re-offending within 6 months of program completion.

  • Contacts: 

    • John Keene, Chief Probation Officer - San Mateo County Probation Department

    • Susan Manheimer, Police Chief - San Mateo Police Department

    • Laura Sharp, Juvenile Detective - Police Officer - San Mateo Police Department

    • Linda Simonsen, Clinical Services Manager - San Mateo County Mental Health Services

    • Christine Villanis, Chief Deputy Probation Officer - San Mateo County Probation Department

Clark County, NV (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description: Implement risk/needs assessment tool to determine eligibility for diversion; Revise intake process so that youth wait only two weeks, rather than six weeks, for an intake after their time of arrest; Work with UNLV to collect and analyze data on recidivism, for youth participating in diversion and youth not participating in diversion, and measure impact of the program.

  • Contacts:

    • Stephen Compan, Juvenile Court Hearing Master - Clark County District Court

    • John "Jack" Martin,  Director of Juvenile Justice - Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice

    • Kelly McMahill, Assistant Sheriff - Las Vegas Metropolitan Police

    • DeNeese Parker, Diversion Court Coordinator - Contracted Employee

    • William H. Scott Jr, Captain - Las Vegas Metropolitan Police

    • Vincent Sedgwick, Juvenile Probation Officer II - Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice

Denver City/County, Colorado (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • Description: Implement Strengthening Families Program as a diversion service for younger youth. Implement risk assessment and criteria for matching; Collect data on behavior change from youth and parents as a result of diversion; Staff training on Community of Practice evidence-based practice in motivational interviewing; Implement quality assurance process of supervisor review to ensure staff follow established evidence-based practices; Add component to case review so that potential needs and gaps in services can be identified (rather than just serving to provide time for supervision of the worker).

    • Update (2015): The team is on track to complete the implementation of the diversion program and will continue to track the progress and outcomes. The team runs 3 sessions of the Strengthening Families Program and reduced the cost to implement the program significantly. The team also worked with the OMNI Institute to create pre/post diversion surveys and will begin using them in October 2015. 

  • Contacts:

    • Patrick Hedrick, Deputy Director - Denver Public Safety Youth Programs

    • Benita Martin,  Director of Juvenile Diversion - Denver District Attorney's Office

    • Chy Montoya, City Council Member - Councilman Albus Brooks, District 8

    • Charlotte Stephens, Director - City 7 County of Denver Public Safety Department

    • Ann Padilla-Parras, Juvenile Diversion Officer - Denver District Attorney's Office

    • Tiffany Vu, Supervisor - Denver Public Safety Youth Programs

Ypsilanti County, Michigan (Oct. 2014 Diversion)

• • Descriptions: Expand services provided through existing diversion program to also provide services for families of youth involved in the program.

  • Contacts:

    • Jennifer Fritz, Associate Professor - Eastern Michigan University

    • Bonnie Miller, Professor - Eastern Michigan University

    • Barbara Walters, Associate Professor/Social Worker - Eastern Michigan University

Massachusetts (2009 MSI)

• • Description: Reduce the number of youth who are involved with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) from entering Department of Youth Services (DYS) detention facilities by 1) reducing the number of DCF youth who are genuinely low risk from entering DYS detention facilities, and 2) decreasing the amount of time DCF youth spend in DYS detention placements by collaborating with DCF to expedite placement options.

    • Update (2014): The Capstone Project served as a strategic planning exercise that would guide Massachusetts' efforts to implement the vision of a MOU between DYS and DCF. As a result of the project, DCF and DYS have successfully worked together to enhance data collection efforts to identify child welfare involved youth that enter detention, and identify their placements prior to detention. Weekly inter-agency meetings have been established to expedite case plans for child welfare involved youth who enter pre-trial detention and weekly and quarterly reports have been developed to allow leadership to see trends and develop strategies for preventing placement in detention in the first place. For instance, leadership is now able to determine if a high number of youth from a particular placement are entering detention so they can work with that placement to prevent more youth from being detained. Further, as part of this Capstone’s intersection with the state’s implementation of JDAI, DYS is working with the Juvenile Court and the Office of the Commissioner of Probation to explore diversion and other alternatives to detention that can further contribute to preventing child welfare involved youth from being detained. For instance, a pilot project has placed over 70 child welfare involved youth in foster care placements instead of detention.

  • Contacts:

    • Lisa Belmarsh, Director of Policy and Training - MA Department of Youth Services

    • Peter Forbes, Assistant Commissioner for Operations - Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts (2008 MSI CPI)

• • Description: Youth mentorship program with college student mentors as Diversion Program.

  • Contacts: 

    • James Poirier, Clerk-Magistrate - Commonwealth of Massachusetts

    • Sandra Sullivan, Assistant Chief Probation Officer - Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Dakota County, Minnesota (2008 MSI CPI)

• • Description: Develop and implement a diversion project targeting students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders in a Setting IV school that had a history of high rates of charging students with disorderly conduct and other misdemeanors, diverting these students from charges pending participation in mental health assessment and wraparound facilitation services.

    • Update (2012): Joan made structural changes in the school system. For example, misdemeanor charges referred from the target school were reviewed by the County Attorney's Office for diversion to the Student Offender Assessment Program, and potential diversions were referred to a probation officer, who would meet with the student and family to discuss the diversion opportunity. Children and Family Services also purchased Truthought, a cognitive-behavioral curriculum used by Dakota County Juvenile Corrections. Training and support for using the curriculum was provided by Juvenile Corrections staff.

  • Contact: Joan Granger-Kopesky, Deputy Director, Social Services - Dakota County

New Jersey (2008 MSI CPI)

• • Description: This capstone project will collect and analyze data on crossover youth served (or not served) by a diversion program already in place. Results will help determine how this program can better serve crossover youth. 

  • Contact: Jonathan Sims, Regional Coordinator - State of New Jersey Dept. of Children and Families