The ACCESS Initiative - Court Diversion Services

Program Purpose

The ACCESS Initiative focuses on diverting juvenile offenders or high risk youth from involvement in juvenile courts. We do this by taking referrals of youth involved in delinquent activity and providing an alternative to prosecution through case management. Our Case Managers screen juvenile offenders referred to our program to identify issues that may have influenced the offense. They link these youth to services to best address presenting issues.

ACCESS Initiative Brochure
Peer Court Mediation Brochure

About the Program

All youth referred to the ACCESS Initiative are screened using the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument (YASI) Pre-Screen Assessment, referred to appropriate service providers, contacted bi-weekly for follow-up and tracked to determine outcome. Case Managers consider station adjustment charges, police officer or school official recommendations and the results of the YASI screening for triage, determining whether youth will receive Court Diversion Services (CDS), Parenting with Love and Limits (PLL) or other services.

Court Diversion Services

CDS attempts to restore the relationship between juvenile offenders, their victims and the community. We do this by addressing the offense with the offender and the victim or community members who together agree on a way to restore justice. These services include:

• Mediation: The offender and victim meet along with a trained volunteer mediator to discuss the offense and come to an agreement on how justice can be restored.
• Peer Court: The offender has the opportunity to give an explanation of the crime before a jury of peers and an adult judge who can ask questions about the offender and the crime to determine how justice can be restored.
• Panel: The offender meets with a panel of mediators to discuss the crime or situation and agrees to the best way to restore justice or encourage productive behavior.
• Weekly follow-up to ensure that CDS agreements are completed: Each case will be evaluated at exit to determine participant’s success or failure.

Parenting with Love and Limits

PLL front end groups are a 6 series, weekly group for offenders and their families, combined with individual coaching sessions. ACCESS Initiative Case Managers co-facilitate these groups. Participants learn family contracting and other skills and get to practice these principles during coaching. Co-facilitators receive training and monthly supervision call for PLL via conference from PLL staff.

For additional information about the ACCESS Initiative Court Diversion Services, please contact rwoodard@ccrpc.org.

Contact Information

Alton Shelvin
Phone: (217) 819-4074
Fax: (217) 328-2426
Email: ashelvin@ccrpc.org

Nita Collins
Phone: (217) 819-4071
Fax: (217) 328-2426
Email: ncollins@ccrpc.org