Driven To Diversion: The Future of Juvenile Justice

Public fear of violence and criminality among youth — and a justice system that sometimes charges juveniles as adults for certain offenses — has led to severe consequences for many adolescent offenders over the past couple of decades. Often enough, young people who found themselves on the end of a guilty verdict for any crime dubbed serious enough would be given stiff probation or even prison sentences. Then they’d have to spend years afterwards dealing with the fallout while trying to get on with their lives.

Recently, though, the pendulum started swinging in the other direction. Many police departments and criminal . . .