This bill would create pretrial diversion courts for juveniles who commit certain first-time, nonviolent status offenses (that is, acts that are only illegal because of a person’s age) or “delinquent acts.” Children who successfully complete a diversion program would not be detained in Department of Juvenile Justice facilities.
We support this bill because: South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice facilities are dangerously overcrowded, and the agency frequently fails in its mission of rehabilitating young people. Too many children, especially Black children, are held in DJJ facilities for nonviolent offenses like truancy or delinquency. Pretrial interventions would give children a chance at rehabilitation rather than locking them away from their communities and placing them on the school-to-prison pipeline.
