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Editorial: St. Petersburg embraces smart diversion program for kids

 
Published March 31, 2015

The city of St. Petersburg has taken a modest, reasonable step to give nonviolent juvenile offenders an opportunity to turn their lives around. The city's new juvenile diversion program will allow youth to perform community service and receive counseling in lieu of entering the court system. The Legislature needs to ensure that juvenile offenders throughout the state have the same access to a program that offers them a second chance.

St. Petersburg police Chief Tony Holloway said Monday the city's Second Chance Program will target children 9 to 17 years old who have committed nonviolent misdemeanors such as shoplifting or stealing a bike. Rather than lock up first-time offenders, police will assign the juveniles to spend eight hours working with city officials on the Saturday following the crime. Six of those hours will be spent at a city park performing age-appropriate duties such as removing invasive exotic plants or cleaning park bathrooms. Program participants also will spend two hours with social workers, who will assess their immediate and long-term needs. Youth who complete both components of the program can avoid having criminal records. Juveniles who have committed felonies or crimes involving firearms, domestic violence and crimes that require paying restitution to a victim, unless parents can immediately provide remuneration, are ineligible.

St. Petersburg's effort mirrors a promising national trend among cities that are working to ensure that nonviolent youth offenders get a chance to avoid criminal records, which can affect everything from employment to bank loans. The Second Chance Program is a positive step for a city that has relied on the Pinellas County sheriff's diversion program to offer youth an alternative to the criminal justice system. Now first-time offenders in St. Petersburg have an option of their own that is closer to home, which should increase participation rates.

As the city's program takes root, police should expand the effort to include job training for teenage offenders and allow more crimes to be forgiven where it makes sense, such as in cases of theft that are just beyond the threshold for classification as a misdemeanor.

The best remedy for helping juvenile offenders get a fresh start is a statewide initiative that weaves together the patchwork of diversion programs that exist in all but five Florida counties. Lawmakers are considering legislation that would broaden diversion programs statewide. Approving the measures would be a wise, compassionate act, as all youth deserve a chance to move beyond a single bad decision that could saddle them with a criminal record for life.