NCJ Number
142379
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 60 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1993) Pages: 32-37
Date Published
1993
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The Colorado Springs SHO/DI (Serious Habitual Offender/Directed Intervention) program has assisted in the identification of habitual juvenile offenders so as to provide intervention that will prevent escalation into serious adult criminality.
Abstract
The SHO/DI program was introduced to Colorado Springs and four other test sites in 1983. The Colorado Springs experience in the early years of SHO/DI was similar to that of the other test sites. In these cities, selected because they had proven and effective crime analysis units in place, a series of interagency meetings was organized to "sell" the project concept to juvenile justice professionals. Typical problems experienced in processing juveniles through the system were discussed; existing information systems were analyzed and their deficiencies identified; system representatives met and agreed upon objective criteria by which police personnel could identify certain patterns of behavior as habitual. After developing the point criteria, the police analysts and department computer programmers designed a mainframe program to store juvenile information for SHO/DI users. Since then, criminal history information on arrested juveniles in the jurisdiction has been entered into this file. In addition to automating complex tasks such as matching accomplices, the program automatically assesses and totals points as offense information is entered, allowing the analyst to quickly identify juveniles who qualify for SHO status. The analyst provides weekly arrest printouts to the Investigations Division, as well as crime- or criminal-specific printouts to auto theft investigators and the Career Criminal Unit. Thanks to the information provided by SHO/DI, numerous crime patterns have been ended with the arrest of juvenile suspects identified through modus operandi and associate or physical description matches.