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YOUTH ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD PROGRAM GUIDELINES INTRODUCTION The Youth Accountability Board serves both the community and the offender. First, it allows the comm unity share in the responsibility for resolving the problems of juvenile crime. It joins programs like Neighborhoodto Watch and Citizens Patrol in creating a partnership between the community and government. Second it offers enhancement to the disposition of the numerous minor cases referred to the juvenile justice system. Currently, many of these cases receive only a cursory review before being settled out of court. Counseling and education arranged by the Board provides support P pport for parents while the community service imposed on minors raises their awareness of the impact and consequences of their behavior. Additionally, the community service aspects of the program provides the community at large with a benefit rather than a loss from juvenile crime. The first Youth Accountability Board in San Bernardino County was developed as a pilot project in the City of Hesperia. The seed for the concept was planted by a local resident who had worked on a similar program in the state of Idaho. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and Probation Department saw the concept as a viable solution to a community need. The two departments combined their efforts to develop the conceptpnto a functioning program. This program is now the model for other communities to copy. What follows is a description of this model program and some of the important considerations for implementation of a Youth Accountability Board in other communities. BACKGROUND Juvenile diversion is a program administered by the Probation Department which seeks to find alternatives to the prosecution ofjuveniles, especially first offenders. This is often desirable to avoid the detrimental aspects of court proceedings and dispositions, including their substantial cost to the taxpayers. When juvenile diversion was at its peak in the late 1970's, many probation officers provided effective dispositions for juveniles diverted from the court system. Adequate staffing of diversion programs allowed officers to be creative and to follow through with diverted youth. However, as the population grew while resources dwindled, diversion became nothing more than a flood gate, keeping volumes of minor offenders out of the courts but offerin no meaningful services. g The problem of limited resources continues to restrict the ability of the juvenile justice system to serve the first time and minor offender. The concept employed by the Youth Accountability Board brings the resources of the community to bear on the problem. The program adopts the philosophy employed by Law Enforcement programs such as Neighborhood Watch and Citizen Patrol. That is, that the community at large can join with government to reduce crime and improve public safety. It merges this philosophy with the concept of Alternative Dispute Resolution which has paralleled the development of community participation in la\v enforcement over the past decade. Alternative Dispute Resolution offers mediation through community volunteers as an alternative to court resolution of minor civil actions. These two concepts are brought together as the Youth Accountability Board. The program provides for the diversion of juvenile first offenders to a Board of' community volunteers who mediate a disposition with the minor and his or her parents. The disposition involves both restitution to the victim and community service. Additionally it may require the minor and parents to participate in educational programs, counseling, or youth organizations.