The Monroe County Sheriff's Office assumed responsibility for two important juvenile crime prevention programs in January of 2001. Sheriff Peryam believes in juvenile intervention programs because he feels we must become involved immediately with youthful offenders to help prevent further delinquent behavior and to prevent youthful offenders from becoming adult offenders.
The intervention programs are Intensive Delinquency Diversion Service or IDDS and Teen Court. IDDS is financed through a contract with the Department of Juvenile Justice that provides 40 slots for juvenile offenders overseen by two highly trained caseworkers. Teen Court is financed through a surcharge on court cases. One full time caseworker operates the program county-wide.
Intensive Delinquency Diversion Service (IDDS)
Intensive Delinquency Diversion Services (IDDS) is an alternative to the formal juvenile justice system for youth who have been charged with a minor crime. As a diversion program, IDDS targets intensive services to a specific population of youth who, according to research, are most likely to become chronic and serious offenders if they do not receive early help. They share certain high-risk factors, including first offense at the age 15 or younger, poor school performance and truancy, lack of parental supervision, substance abuse problems, or gang affiliation. Other diversion programs include Community Arbitration, Juvenile Alternative Services Program (JASP), Teen Court, Civil Citation, Boy and Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, mentoring programs, and alternative schools. These programs employ a variety of non-judicial sanctions, including:
The target population includes all male and female youth under 18 years of age with a focus upon youth 16 yrs. old and younger. These youth are referred to the Department of Juvenile Justice for delinquent behavior that if committed by an adult would be criminal acts. These youth are at high risk of becoming serious or chronic offenders.
The counseling program strives to facilitate positive changes in the youths behavior and a change in direction away from the delinquent mind-set.
Admission criteria for children to be considered:
Through partnerships with local agencies, a wide variety of counseling and educational services are available to the youths in the program at reduced or no cost. The program focuses on many problematic areas, including family issues, gender specific (Adolescent Girls) issues, and minority over-representation issues. Regarding family issues, the aim will be to develop services to address the needs of the family directed toward improving family function. Relative to gender specific (Adolescent Girls) and minority over-representation issues program services will be identified and delivered with the goal of fostering positive identity development. Further, program services are intended to deal with risk factors relating to the gender specific and minority populations by addressing the protective factors and skill competencies, which are intended to deter future delinquent behavior.
Services are provided six days a week, and outside the traditional 8 AM to 5 PM workday. The following components are provided:
Evaluation of the youth is initiated within 72 hours of admission. The evaluation includes: strengths and needs assessment of family members as they relate to the school, community, and support systems for parent and child. A behavior management program is established to include communication and life skills counseling and social support networking. Behavior Modification Techniques and tools are also be introduced to the family.
Other areas of education support and behavior modification include: Social skill enhancement, self sufficiency, skill enhancement, life skill enhancement, mental health and counseling services, substance abuse counseling, education/academic assistance, pre-vocational services, community work service and restitution to victims.
Teen Court
Teen court is a nationally recognized diversion program designed to divert juvenile misdemeanor offenders away from the Circuit Juvenile Court system. When law enforcement officers apprehend a youth between the ages of 13 and 17, who has committed a misdemeanor offense, they have the option of issuing a Uniform Juvenile Citation rather than arresting, and thus referring a teen offender to the Teen Court program. Teen Court is aimed at first or second offenders in minor cases.
Teen Court is a program that provides immediate intervention with the provision of sanctions and services in an effort to divert the child away from ongoing delinquent behavior.
After receiving a Citation for a misdemeanor offense, the youth and his or her parent/guardian must contact the Teen Court office within seven days to set an appointment for an interview. At the interview, if the youth admits to the charge, he/she is informed of the rules of the Teen Court program and given a date to appear in Teen Court.
The Teen Court is held in a courtroom at one of the County Court Houses. The case is presented as a real trial would be, with volunteer teens performing the roles of prosecuting and defense attorneys, clerk and bailiff. The jury is made up of both volunteers and former defendants who are required to sit for jury duty as part of their sentence. The judge for Teen Court is a practicing attorney who volunteers his/her time to assist the program.
At the conclusion of the case, the jury delivers the youth’s sentence, which will include community service and jury duty, and may include such sanctions as essays, letters of apology, to abide by a curfew, a Jail Tour, and when loss or damage applies, to pay restitution. The youth may also have to participate in other appropriate sanctions.
After the appearance at Teen Court, the youth has a specified period of time to complete the assigned sanctions (30 days for a first offense, 90 days for a second offense) during which time he/she is under the supervision of the Teen Court counselor.
If the child completes the Teen Court program successfully the case is dropped and there are no further requirements. If the youth fails to complete the requirements of the program, or receives a subsequent law violation while on the program, he/she will be violated and returned to the Department of Juvenile Justice, and referred to the State Attorney’s office for a decision of prosecution in Juvenile Court.
Teen courts are held in Key West, Marathon and Plantation Key.
For more information, contact Juvenile Diversion Program Supervisor Sherwood Hanford via email at shanford@keysso.net or by phone at 305-292-7129.