Honorable Barbera-Dalli Supports Initiative
Last week we took a look at the work Smithtown Judge Honorable Janine Barbera-Dalli does in her District Court room in the Cohanlan Complex in Hauppauge. She is presently one of several Long Island Judges hoping to implement the Adolescent Diversion Program. Barbera-Dalli, other judges and the research say Adolescent Diversion Programs reduce recidivism, help youth and save taxpayers money.
“I had heard about the Adolescent Diversion Program years ago when I first became interested in running for office. I knew there were a few pilot programs around the state but that we did not have one here in Suffolk,” said Barbera-Dalli. She was invited to a seminar given by retired Judge Michael Corriero in October “Judge Corriero who was the mentor of Judge Camacho who handles the Youth Part for felonies in Suffolk gave the most inspiring seminar and reignited my interest in trying to bring the program to a greater degree into Suffolk,” she explained. Judge Corriero developed the program in Manhattan and it became the model for the pilot programs in other parts of the state.
USED in 48 out of 50 States
Adolescent Diversion Programs are used in 48 out of 50 states for sixteen and seventeen year olds. However, they are only used in nine counties within New York State. Many on the bench wonder why. Implementation of the program began in January 2012 and the models vary from place to place depending upon local resources and priorities. Designed to keep adolescents out of the adult jail population, many Judges around the state wonder why the Legislature has yet to pass it for all of New York State.
Judge Camacho has mirrored the program in his courtroom, he address felonies only and chooses the cases on a case by case basis. “My proposal was to broaden the use of this type of court to include misdemeanors,” said Barbera-Dalli.
She said that New York State is making some strides, the Legislature just passed a proposal which will finally bring NY in line with the 48 other states who deal with 16 year olds in family court and not in criminal court,” she continued. However, she says she is under the impression that 17 year olds will follow suit the following year.
Barbera-Dalli says that is a positive step but not a panacea. “It still leave us with the gap of 18 and 19 year olds who will be left in the criminal courts and will still be treated as adults,” she explained.
STATISTICS
Is it a win win? Well statistics say it is a win for those charged. Two recent large-scale studies indicate that juveniles who receive harsher penalties when tried as adults are not “scared straight”. In fact after their release, they tend to reoffend sooner and more often than those treated in the juvenile system.
Columbia University researcher Jeffrey Fagan compared 15 and 16 year olds charged with robbery and burglary in four similar communities in New York and New Jersey. Both states had similar statues for first and second degree robbery and first degree burglary. However, in New York, 15 and 16 year olds’ cases originated in criminal court, while in New jersey they were adjudicated in juvenile court. The sample consisted of 400 robbery offenders and 400 burglary offenders randomly selected. Fagan examined the recidivism rates of offenders from each state after their release. He found that while there were no significant differences in the effects of criminal versus juvenile court processing for burglary offenders, there were substantial differences in recidivism among robbery offenders.
Seventy-six percent of robbers prosecuted in criminal court were rearrested, as compared with 67% of those processed in juvenile court. A significantly higher proportion of the criminal group was subsequently reincarcerated (56% vs. 41%).
IN A PERFECT JUDICIAL WORLD
Barbera-Dalli says ideally everyone would like to follow Judge Corriero’s model and have this type of system in place. “The question is whether the court system can justify losing another all purpose part to yet another specialty part, like the Drug Court, Veterans Court, Domestic Violence Parts and DWI parts, this will take judges away from other cases which clog our system leaving less judges to handle the ever mounting caseloads,” she explains.
There are no hard and fast rules for the Adolescent Diversion Courts; each county makes up their own rules as they go along. “My hope was that I would be able to scoop all of the under 20 year old kids who had misdemeanors and hold on to them for a little longer than usual to insure that they had the resources they need to stay out of the system and not stray back in,” said the hopeful Judge. She is presently doing this but would love to see it system-wide.
The office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is located within the Office of Justice Program of the U.S. Department of Justice and has further information and some telling statistics. Barbera-Dalli says she realized resources would be needed to successfully implement the program in Suffolk County they could tap into organizations they already utilize for probation or as a condition to pleas like:
LICAAD, HORIZONS, EAC, TASC, BIG BROTHERS/BIG SITERS, TIMOTHY HILL RANCH, HOPE HOUSE and MERCY FIRST.
Most of the above will use a sliding scale to have the defendants take some responsibility for their own rehabilitation (where insurance is not available) while also offering assistance to those who may qualify for public assistance.