NCJ Number
80271
Date Published
Unknown
Length
136 pages
Annotation
The New York City Transit Police Department initiated a project in 1977 to divert juvenile offenders. This program evaluation measures the impact of the project on New York City criminal justice agencies and other public agencies.
Abstract
The diversion project was developed in conjunction with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. A primary reason for the project has been the steadily rising number of daily youth referrals and juvenile arrests by the transit police. The program effect is evaluated for three separate police agencies (transit police, New York police, and housing authority police), as well as the Board of Education, the Department of Employment, the Family Court, and the Bureau of Probation. The diversion program's effect on transit police has involved increased personnel training and a reduction of from 1 to 6 days of police man-hours for each diversion case (time that would have been required in case processing). The New York Police Department's caseload of misdemeanor arrests has been reduced one-sixth as a result of the diversion program, and the Board of Education has been relieved of much of its time and personnel demands in dealing with truancy cases. The program, by giving summer jobs to many of the diverted youth in the Transit Authority, has reduced the burden on the Department of Employment. Plans are underway to extend a similar diversion program to the Housing Authority Police Department. Various official forms, orders, and circulars bearing upon the diversion project are appended.