| Giving a Gift that Keeps on Giving
As the Christmas song goes, “I don’t want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need.” For lots of us, that means love, family, health, or maybe a little gift or two. For the 17,000+ kids in the juvenile justice system, it means wanting a fresh start…a second chance…a clean slate. That’s the best gift they can get.
Across PA, kids are sent to jail for minor offenses. While they’re locked up, they’re at risk of abusive staff, overuse of solitary confinement, criminally weak education and counseling, and a shared sense of despair. These are not the settings where kids learn from mistakes and how to make better choices.
They learn, instead, by seeing that adults believe in them. That’s why Children First and the PA Youth Justice Alliance keep fighting so that kids in every county can be assigned to diversion programs: education, mentorship, and community-based solutions that provide the necessary tools to make a fresh start. For example, teenagers who are caught shoplifting or trespassing do not need to be locked up; they can take accountability, make amends for their behavior, and learn how to make better choices in the future without being behind bars.
Diversion programs work. According to the PA Juvenile Justice Task Force, 80% of PA children who participate in diversion successfully complete it and are therefore less likely to reoffend. Parents know this to be true. A mom in rural PA shared, “My oldest son got some trespassing charges when he was a young teen and completed a [diversion] program, graduated high school and college, and is doing very well now. An early mistake should not define the course of a minor’s life.”
Unfortunately, a kid’s chances of entering a diversion program are not equally applied across the Commonwealth. There are wide differences across counties in how judges determine a child’s future: jail or diversion. Some counties divert most new cases; others very few. For example, Northumberland County diverted over 95% of new youth cases while Monroe County diverted less than 35%.
We believe that all PA children who commit low-level crimes must have the same opportunity to turn a new leaf because it makes our communities safer, sets up young people for success, and brings some relief to the victims.
Fortunately, State Rep. Rick Krajewski is spearheading a bill (HB 144) to ensure that PA youth, regardless of where they live, have similar opportunities for a fresh start by 1) ending fines and fees that often trap kids in the system years after the crime, and 2) requires that young people are given the option of diversion programs. All Democrats and 60% of Republicans on the Children & Youth Committee passed this measure on for a full House vote. It’s good news that second chances aren’t partisan.
One of the greatest gifts we get is the opportunity to start fresh and not be held back because of past mistakes we’ve since atoned for. It’s not something that can be wrapped up under the tree or beside the menorah but it’s something that a child in need will treasure for a lifetime.
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