New police program aims to steer youth out of court system
Plan promotes intervention for less serious offences
Toronto police have introduced a program to reduce the number of youth who enter the court system in an effort to give them an early chance to turn their life around.
The Youth Pre-Charge Diversion Program will allow people under 18 who commit illegal offences to atone by working with community-based programs instead of facing criminal charges.
The program will apply to youth who commit “less serious offences” like mischief and theft.
“We know that early, focused intervention and the assessment of the needs of young people increases their chances for better outcomes,” Paul Wheeler, the Toronto Region Director of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, said Tuesday at a news conference.
The citywide program went live a few days ago, and has already received eight referrals, police said.
Wheeler said the program will collect data that will help the Toronto police and his ministry “better understand the needs of, and be able to plan for (handling) youth in conflict with the law.”
Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said he wasn’t sure what kind of data would be collected.
“I’m hoping that we will be able to collect the proper data . . . it gives us an opportunity to learn more if the data shows there are things we need to learn and modify,” Saunders said.
Saunders also lauded the new program, saying that it “provides an opportunity for victims, witnesses and family members to be part of a strategy in turning a young person’s life around.”
“Right now if you make a mistake, you got to go through the court system,” Saunders said.
The program is meant to “help educate (young people), give them better opportunities to make better decisions and then hopefully change the way in which they behave.”
Saunders said the program is “victim-oriented as well.”
“We want ensure that people that who have been victimized as result of crime are satisfied with the outcomes of this thing, or else it’s not going to be a successful program,” he said.
Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina) called the program a “critical crime prevention and youth development tool,” and offered the St. Stephen’s Community House in his ward as an example of a community agency that would be involved in the program.
He also criticized the Ontario government for not providing the $750,000 of funding that was promised last June and intended to be used for crime prevention programs starting last year.
Toronto police partnered with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and other community partners to create the program.