NCJ Number
177763
Date Published
May 1998
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A future challenge for the Sonoma, California, Police Department and other police agencies is to continue to seek creative ways of providing diversion services to at-risk youth and their families.
Abstract
Because this challenge can be especially acute in jurisdictions with small communities and limited resources, the Sonoma Police Department (SPD) is actively engaged in developing cost-effective methods to address the issues and needs of youthful at-risk offenders, based on partnerships with the community. To clarify the direction and possible future of providing diversion services to at risk families, the nominal group technique was employed by a panel that specifically examined trends and events related to types of services that might be provided to young people at-risk of entering the juvenile justice system and their families. The panel considered the following key trends: Latino involvement in the community, school responsiveness, violent behavior, shift from government to private service providers, and economic variance. In addition, the panel looked at the following key events: daytime curfew ordinance, organized youth gang activity, teenage suicide, hate crime, and major system failure of a key service provider. Emerging concerns that demonstrated the need for effective juvenile diversion programs revolved around gang activity, violent behavior toward others, self-destructive behavior, and limited government services.