Press Release  OCA Releases Report on Year 1 Impact of Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program

Boston, MA – Today, the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) released a new report about the Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program (MYDP), a partnership between the OCA and the Department of Youth Services that launched in the fall of 2021. The MYDP is a state-funded initiative that provides high-quality, evidence-based programming that can serve as an alternative to arresting youth or prosecuting them through the Juvenile Court.

The report tracks results from the first year of implementation (calendar year 2022) of the program in three initial pilot sites in Worcester, Essex, and Middlesex Counties. Key findings from the report include:

• 134 youth were referred to the program in 2022, with the monthly referral rate steadily increasing over the course of the year as more potential referrers learned about the program.
• One of the goals of the program is to help combat overrepresentation of Black and Latino youth in the juvenile justice system. Early data from the program suggests that the program is helping to reduce disparities for Hispanic/Latino youth – who made up 46% of youth who reached intake by the end of 2022 – but that additional work is needed to ensure that Black youth (who made up 8% of referrals) have equitable access to the program.
• 69% of cases were closed successfully, while another 14% were returned to the original referrer for reasons other than lack of success in program. 

In addition to tracking program data, the MYDP surveys youth graduates of the program to understand their experiences. In a survey of 2022 youth graduates, 86% of youth agreed that after completing the program, they felt they could stay out of trouble, and 86% noted that the program helped them reflect on any harm they may have caused. One youth shared that “The Diversion program is one that will help you realize your mistakes and learn from them. It helped me admit that I had to change, and it changes a person for the better.” 

Based on the successful results from the first year of implementation, in 2023 the program expanded to two additional sites in Hampden and Plymouth Counties. The program will expand to two additional sites in 2024. 

“The Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program is a groundbreaking initiative that demonstrates the state's commitment to ensuring equitable access to evidence-based diversion programming for youth across the Commonwealth. As this report demonstrates, diversion works – and we look forward to our continued partnership with DYS to expand the program statewide,” said Maria Mossaides, Director of the Office of the Child Advocate.

“The Department of Youth Services is proud to partner with the OCA to expand evidence-based delinquency prevention through the Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program,” said DYS Commissioner Cecely Reardon. “The OCA’s report underscores the positive impact that this initiative has on our young people and public safety. We look forward to our continued partnership with the OCA in service of ensuring all young people have the opportunities necessary for successful life outcomes.”

Research shows that diverting youth away from the juvenile justice system can be an effective strategy for improving life outcomes for youth, preserving and protecting public safety, and reducing court processing costs. Although many youth will engage in risky/unlawful behavior as a normal part of adolescence, most youth mature and grow out of this behavior without any state intervention. A small percentage of youth will go on to re-offend as adults. This risk can be reduced, however, if a child receives the right support – which is why the use of diversion can ultimately improve public safety. Rigorous research has found that youth who have participated in evidence-based diversion programs are less likely to re-offend than youth who are formally processed through the juvenile court.

BACKGROUND:

Historically, access to evidence-based youth diversion programming has varied widely across the Commonwealth. In its 2019 report on diversion, the state’s Juvenile Justice Policy and Data (JJPAD) Board found that there were no statewide standards or guidelines in Massachusetts regarding the use of diversion, and no entity that provided oversight for diversion practices. That report recommended the creation of a statewide diversion program to ensure that youth across the Commonwealth had equitable access to high-quality, state-funded diversion programming.

As a result of that report, with funding allocated by the Legislature in the state budget, the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) partnered with the Department of Youth Services (DYS) to launch the Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program. Phase I of the MYDP consisted of a “Learning Lab” that piloted the new model in three counties between January 2022 and December 2022.

The Learning Lab phase officially ended in December 2022. The program expanded to Plymouth and Hampden Counties in 2023, and DYS and OCA are currently in the process of selecting additional expansion sites to launch by 2024.

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