A good kind of ‘diversion’ for Wake County’s at-risk teens

North Carolina’s new “Raise the Age” law primarily sponsored by Wake County Rep. Duane Hall will keep more juveniles out of the adult court system, and that’s a major effort to help young people stay straight and not pay an unreasonable price for bad judgment and relatively petty offenses.

But Wake itself for the past year and a half has helped 65 teenagers accused of misdemeanors avoid criminal charges and thus a record that would follow them all of their lives.

The county’s Teen Diversion Program offers community service options and treatment for behavioral problems instead of a criminal justice path. The result is that young people who otherwise might have been set on a lifetime of bad behavior and repeated encounters with the justice system have kept college scholarships or maintained their eligibility for the military.

Policies such as “Raise the Age” and the Wake program – likely to be used as a model by other counties – reflect a healthy and changing attitude on the part of policymakers and legislators that it’s better to have young folks who have made mistakes get a chance to fix those mistakes and become productive rather than just punish them. The short-term effects look good so far; the long-term effects could make society a better and more productive place.

This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 11:30 AM with the headline "A good kind of ‘diversion’ for Wake County’s at-risk teens."