NCJ Number
79688
Date Published
Unknown
Length
178 pages
Annotation
This package of documents on Baltimore's Limited Adjustment Program (LAP), a police diversion program for youthful offenders, contains course guides for training police officers, various reporting forms, caseload statistics, job descriptions, and other materials relevant to the project's operations.
Abstract
The 10-day training course in diversion covers topics that include the police role in society, the diversion process, adolescent growth and development, causes of delinquency, and the history of the juvenile justice system. Participants are taught interviewing and counseling skills, are introduced to community resources that can serve as referrals, and study administrative procedures. This curriculum outline suggests texts and includes a test. Forms used in the diversion program are provided, such as a factsheet given to an offender's parents, referral forms, custody reports, and weekly data reports. Information on Maryland's child labor laws focuses on permissible employment opportunities for teenagers. Statistical tables describe the LAP's and the court's dispersements for 1976 - 80, juveniles enrolled in LAP, and their recidivism rates. Position papers submitted by officers who were selected for the program are presented. An overview of the diversion project details its planning stages, job descriptions, implementation of orders, eligibility criteria, operating procedures, and administrative structure. An additional training guide assists the roll-call trainer to explain the diversion program.