The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas is expanding a juvenile diversion program to include low-level felony offenses.
The court already offers various diversion programs for truancy and misdemeanor offenders. Now, juveniles convicted of non-violent felonies like theft, vandalism or breaking and entering will be given the chance to have their cases dismissed and records sealed if they complete a three-month program.
Franklin County Prosecutor Shayla Favor said the program is about stopping future crimes.
"It's one thing to punish a person for having committed a crime, but what we are trying to do is to prevent this young person from escalating their behavior," Favor said.
The program will only be open to first-time offenders whose crimes involve $500 or less in restitution. The victim of the crime must agree to let the offender complete the program and the victims get paid up front.
Favor said that benefits the victims.
"First of all, their consent is required for this young person to even participate in this pilot program. And then two, they're going to be made whole up front," Favor said.
Studies show that restorative justice programs reduce the chance that people commit crimes again.
A study on restorative justice in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology says, "results generally support the effectiveness of the program for many types of offenders."
In Franklin County, the general diversion programs have an overall success rate of 73%, according to the Court of Common Pleas.
Those convicted of violent offenses like vehicular homicide, manslaughter or sex crimes will not be eligible for the program.
Judge Lasheyl Stroud, lead juvenile judge in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, said carjackers may be allowed to participate in the program as long as their crimes are not violent in nature.
"How can we as a community really come together and expedite justice being served at the front end to have an opportunity for the youth to be more reflective sooner rather than later, and to really sit with the victim if the victim would like to participate and have conversations about how they were affected by it," Stroud said.
After a sharp increase in juvenile carjackings between 2019 and 2022, the crimes dropped 36% by 2024.
Favor says about 300 of the court's roughly 1,200 juvenile felony offenders from last year would have been able to participate in the program.
The program is a collaboration between the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and community partners.
