NCJ Number
77730
Date Published
1980
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This report describes the activities of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice/New York City Transit Police Juvenile Offender Diversion Project during its third and final year of operations which ended June 1980.
Abstract
In March 1979, New York City's mayor responded to an apparent upsurge in reported subway crime by directing the transit police to increase the visible police presence in the subways, particularly between 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. This change in deployment policy resulted in fewer juvenile arrests and decreased interest in diversion programs. Consequently, the project had only 45 new intake cases per month instead of the 90 to 100 originally projected. Under these circumstances, the director and staff successfully mounted a campaign to institutionalize diversion services as part of an autonomous juvenile crime prevention unit within the transit police department. This report outlines the procedural and staffing changes which will permit diversion activities to continue, such as allowing an officer to call in a report to the juvenile crime prevention unit without leaving his post instead of directly intervening in the situation. Alternatives to diversion being tested by the transit police are also discussed, such as financial restitution in vandalism cases. A youth employment training program undertaken in 1979 will train former divertees and other youthful offenders in auto repair, while a civilian employee training grant will allow the transit police to train civilian replacements for police juvenile specialists. Statistical tables are appended.