With the Law:

Pre-Charge Diversion Program

Our Pre-Charge Diversion program offers an alternative to juvenile court for a range of first time offenses such as shoplifting, property damage, disorderly conduct, and curfew violations and gives youth a chance to learn from their mistakes.

We provide a restorative justice approach that holds young people accountable for their actions while working with them to develop skills to make better decisions, avoiding the detrimental impacts incarceration has on their lives and on our community – in terms of education, employment, homelessness, and other measures of well-being.

 
 
 

CURRENT YOUTH EXPERIENCE

  • Black youth are detained at 6 times the rate of white youth in detention facilities, while Native youth are detained at 4 times the rate of white youth. Latinx youth also see disparities, being detained at twice the rate of white youth. ( 2022)

  • Youth in juvenile detention reduces the likelihood youth graduate from high school by 31% ( 2022).

  • Detention is associated with a 33% increase in likelihood the young person will commit a felony. (2020).

Our Response

Through St. Paul Youth Services’ Pre-Charge Diversion Program we offer a restorative justice approach, helping youth who’ve been charged with a minor offense pursue a more productive path and stay out of the juvenile justice system.

They make restitution to their victims, get connected to supportive community resources, and are held accountable for their actions in a way that helps them grow.

97% of our Pre-Charge Diversion program participants did not have another arrest in the following six months.

 

Our program gives youth a second chance by helping them understand how their choices affect their goals, their families, and their community and restoring them to a more positive path. Through a combination of counseling, and community service, we hold young people accountable for their actions, while working with them (and their families), we develop tools to make better decisions in the future and avoid further criminal activity.