Diversion program targeting teen pot arrests
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has quietly launched a marijuana diversion program targeting teens, a move that could help eliminate hundreds of arrests every year.
Now, teens caught with marijuana will be referred to juvenile probation and allowed to take a class instead of facing criminal charges.
“Two weeks ago, we started the first marijuana diversion program for juveniles,” said prosecutor John Jordan, who heads up the office’s juvenile division. “Kids will now go to a one-time class with their parents on a Saturday.”
Officials touted the new program at a Saturday morning public meeting in Fifth Ward’s DeLuxe Theatre, where District Attorney Kim Ogg and top prosecutors answered community questions and explained a range of diversion efforts intended to keep people out
jail.
Though Ogg created a similar program geared toward adults just weeks after taking office in 2017, some arrestees — including kids, parolees and those caught in school zones — were barred from participating, as was anyone caught with more than 4 ounces, a felony amount.
“The community is not looking to incarcerate people for using something that is legal in some states,” Ogg said Saturday. “So we stopped prosecuting those cases.”
Initially, the program drew mixed reactions, as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed the move as creating a sanctuary city for pot-smokers, and some Houston-area police departments refused to participate.
But the program has helped avoid more than 14,000 arrests in Harris County so far, officials said in March, and it’s evolved over time: Parolees were allowed to take part starting earlier this year, and prosecutors stopped going after school zone cases amid fallout from a legislative change in June. Now, Ogg’s office has created a separate program — paid for with asset forfeiture money — to afford juveniles the same opportunities. “The law requires kids arrested for certain crimes are taken into custody and we don’t think that’s appropriate,” Ogg said, “especially in a city where we are offering diversion for adults.”
Unlike with the adult program, there aren’t specific limits on who’s eligible. Jordan said low-level charges are the target, but felony cases could still potentially take part.
It’s expected the new program will eliminate 1,000 arrests in the first year, he said.
The impetus for the program is two-fold, officials said. First, it’s part of a longterm goal to reduce the numbers of juvenile cases filed by up to 50 percent. But also, prosecuting pot cases has become more challenging in recent months since the Texas Legislature approved legislation legalizing hemp and thus requiring more precise testing to distinguish between legal hemp and illegal marijuana. In the aftermath, Harris County and a handful of other jurisdictions across the state announced plans to stop prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana cases.
News of the new program comes just after officials rolled out another juvenile diversion initiative, this one targeted to Fifth Ward kids. Funded by state and local bar associations as well as by the district attorney’s office, the initiative offers mentoring, support and volunteer work for 12- to 16year-olds accused of crimes, except in cases involving gun violence or sexual assaults. About 100 kids each year are arrested in Fifth Ward, officials said, and the new program — run in partnership with the newly created Center for Urban Transformation — is expected to serve at least 30 in the first year.