Who would have thought not treating a 13-year-old, first-time offender like a hardened criminal would help the kid make better choices?In St. Pete, early statistics — released yesterday morning by the mayor's office — show that doing just that works. Apparently if you don't put a young teenager in jail with older, more seasoned teen criminals, those kids don't learn how to turn a single bad decision into a life of crime. Instead, a good portion of St. Pete's recently misdirected youths are taking their second chance and running with it.
St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman surprised a lot of people when he ignored a costly hiring process and chose none of the candidates presented to be the new police chief, instead hiring Clearwater Police Department's Anthony Holloway. Chief Holloway instituted the Second Chance Juvenile Diversion Program a few months after making the move to South County. Under this program, St. Pete Police don't throw kids in jail the first time they commit a minor crime. Instead, kids get sent to work in the parks.
In 2014, St. Pete Police arrested just over 1400 kids for misdemeanor crimes. Almost half of those kids could have gone through the Second Chance program, had it existed, which, of course, it didn't. Kids arrested in 2014 went through an "already backlogged" criminal justice program according to Ben Kirby, Kriseman's chief of communications.
Holloway says kids arrested last year often waited months to go to court. Under Second Chance — his brainchild — kids get redirected immediately.
"This process is expensive and inefficient," Kirby says of the pre-Holloway practice of arresting kids and making them wait months for punishment. "Our diversion program is fast, addressing the problems with immediate consequences."
The city unveiled this program in March, 2015. Between April 6 and June 15, police arrested 162 kids for misdemeanors. Of those kids, 29 went through the Second Chance program, and all but one finished the program.
Only two have reoffended.
Seems St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman has chosen wisely.