The Supreme Court of Ohio’s Juvenile Diversion Task Force released a report earlier this month detailing their findings.
Juvenile diversion is a way for people under 18 to avoid going through the typical court process and having a criminal record that could follow them. Instead, juveniles can opt to go through other measures like doing community service, paying restitution or attending rehabilitation programs. It could also mean going to resource or assessment centers where juveniles would be evaluated for any mental health issues, substance use disorders or disabilities.
The main goals of the report were to reiterate the importance of diversion, especially for younger kids who’ve committed minor infractions, and to provide guidelines to individual courts in different counties. The guidelines are meant to help ensure that courts are working with community partners, complying with Marsy’s Law, and keeping records of diversion programs to see how successful they are.
The task force also came up with a term called “Pre-initial appearance diversion,” a category of diversion programs where a juvenile doesn’t appear in court, but completes the appropriate diversion for their offense instead. Roughly 75% or more juvenile diversions can be classified as “pre-initial.”
One of the task force's findings was that courts should publicly list the number and types of offenses that have been diverted. They also decided that local courts should outline their specific rules for pre-initial diversion.
According to David Hejmanowski, chair of the task force and judge of Delaware County’s Juvenile Court, most juveniles only come in contact with the court once. Usually they don’t commit another crime or their punishment is diverted, which helps to fix any issues. He believes diversion helps juveniles with their future goals like getting into college, serving in the military or getting a job.
“So the idea is that you want to intervene in a way that sets that child back on the right tack, gives them the right tools, addresses whatever issues they might have that has led to that behavior occurring and...does not leave them with a permanent record,” said Hejmanowski.
