Juvenile Justice Chapter 10- Prevention and Diversion Programs (Book)

Diversion

Conceptual underpinning for community-based programs. This is a process that diverts juveniles away from the formal and authoritarian components of the juvenile justice system. Programs may be coordinated by youth agencies, juvenile courts, or the police.

Drug Courts

Courts that attempt to prevent children and adults from continuing deviant drug-using behaviors. These courts aim to stop the abuse of alcohol and other drugs through the use of intensive therapeutic supervision.

Follow Through

Similar to head start, program designed to help culturally deprived children catch up or keep pace during their preschool and early school years.

Functionally Related Agencies

Agencies that have goals similar to those of the juvenile justice system -- namely, improving the quality of life for juveniles by preventing offensive behavior, providing opportunities for success, and correcting undesirable behavior.

Head Start

Federal program that delivers preschool and early school educational services to children from poor or culturally marginalized environments. The program provides instruction in basic reading and verbal skills for children who might otherwise grow up with poor skills and thereby an increased possibility of future delinquency or criminality.

Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP)

Supports one-to-one mentoring relationships for youth at risk of becoming involved in delinquency, gangs, and educational failure.

Mental Health Courts

Problem-solving court that combines community mental health treatment with judicial supervision and support.

Net Widening

A process whereby youth are brought to the attention of juvenile authorities when they otherwise wouldn't be labeled, thereby increasing rather than decreasing stigmatization.

Post-adjudication Intervention

Intervention that is provided after the adjudication phase.

Pre-adjudication Intervention

Intervention that is provided before the adjudication phase

Primary Prevention

Intervention with juveniles who have not yet begun breaking the law or otherwise engaging in antisocial deviance.

Pure Diversion

Also known as preadjudicatory diversion. This is a process of immediate diversion, meaning that young offenders are sent directly into community-based programs before they are adjudicated by a juvenile court and processed into the formal juvenile justice system.

Radical Nonintervention

Approach that encourages law and policy-making organizations to be tolerant of the widest possible diversity of behaviors and attitudes. Such a process would then limit the amount of intervention necessary with juveniles.

Restorative Justice

Type of justice in which the core concepts of accountability, competency, and public safety are used in mediation that includes the crime victim(s), the offender(s), and the community.

Scared Straight

First Popularized in the 1978 film, program in which groups of young offenders spend a day in a maximum-security prison. They tour the facility and are placed in a graphic and intensive encounter session with hardened adult convicts.

School-to-prison Pipeline

A term used to describe the children who have trouble at school, such as out-of-school suspensions, but end up in the juvenile justice system because of the increased use of zero-tolerance policies, police in schools, physical restraints, and automatic suspensions.

Secondary Diversion

Also known as postadjudicatory diversion. This refers to the release of juveniles who have already been processed into the formal juvenile justice system. They are released into community-based programs prior to final disposition.

Secondary Prevention

An approach that seeks to identify juveniles who appear to be at high risk for delinquency and/or abuse and intervene in their lives early.

Teen Courts

Courts made up of teens under 17 years of age who process cases by acting as a prosecutor, defense counsel, bailiff, and clerk and who determine the punishment for the cases by acting as the jury. An adult attorney acts as the judge to ensure the fairness and legality of the sentencing. Offenders are required to complete the sentences handed down by the teen jury.

Territorial Jealousy

Belief commonly held by agency personnel that attempts to coordinate efforts are actually attempts to invade the territory they have staked out for themselves

Tertiary Prevention

Intervention with juveniles who have engaged in serious and chronic deviance and who have already entered the juvenile justice system. These juveniles are technically in need of treatment rather than prevention because efforts to prevent the onset of delinquency have failed. These juveniles should be approached within the context of rehabilitation rather than prevention.

Truancy

Chronic or habitual absenteeism from school.

Truancy Courts

Attempt to address the underlying causes of the child's failure to attend school; may be held on school property.

Wilderness Programs

Juvenile corrections programs centered on minimum-security residential correctional institutions that are located in rural settings. These programs are usually reserved for first-time offenders and/or juveniles who have committed minor offenses. Examples include forestry camps, ranches, and well-established programs such as Outward Bound.