Johnson County diversion program a good first step
When a young person commits any level of crime, interventions should result in altering the youth’s behavior in a way that reduces delinquency and improves the youth’s chances of prosperity in adulthood. These twin goals serve society’s broad interests and, when they intersect with reduced taxpayer expense, provide a solid foundation for the reduction of racial disparities within our juvenile and adult justice systems. After all, the ways in which we interact with youth today set a framework for the future relationship between that individual and the larger community. There are many reasons to applaud the first-in-the-state diversion program in Johnson Countythat seeks to protect young first offenders from entering a juvenile justice system that too often introduces them to and keeps them in contact with higher-risk youth. Researchers have sounded…