District Attorney Hayden launches pilot Emerging Adult Program
BOSTON, June 16, 2024 – Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden has announced the launch of a pilot Emerging Adult Program (EAP), an alternative to traditional prosecution plan available to young adults aged 18 to 25 in Dorchester BMC.
Hayden first introduced the concept last April during a panel discussion held at More Than Words (MTW), a nonprofit bookstore in Boston run by young adults and a partner in the program.
“Social sciences and behavioral research are always advancing and evolving, and we in law enforcement must advance and evolve along with them. This pilot program represents our efforts, with our partners, to create and execute new approaches for a specific age group. We know what a dramatic impact a mistake, made when a person is young and still in neurological development, can have on that person’s life. We want to find appropriate ways, in appropriate circumstances, to mitigate the impact of those mistakes,” Hayden said.
Partners in the pilot EAP are More Than Words, the Center for Law, Brain, & Behavior (CLBB), Harvard Street Neighborhood Health, and Roca. The program launch comes at a time when innovative youth crime reduction strategies are being explored across the nation.
“Collaboration is crucial when working with young and emerging adults. By working together to provide them with individualized services and programs, we can help improve the outcomes for them and our communities,” Hayden said.
The pilot program will launch in the Dorchester Division of the Boston Municipal Court and will remain in an ongoing evaluation phase before possible expansion.
The EAP seeks to create diversionary pathways to prosecution for emerging adults, connecting them with established non-profit organizations to create individualized service plans in conjunction with an ongoing criminal case.
Dr. Robert Kinscherff, executive director of the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the program “promises to be a national model bringing together a range of partners in a science-informed initiative supporting both the positive well-being of youth and community safety.”
“The EAP brings the best of neuroscience, behavioral sciences, criminology, and public health to bear in holding young adults accountable for misconduct. It’s a developmentally-aligned approach focused on reducing future criminal behavior by helping emerging adults become contributing members to our communities,” Kinscherff said.
The program is designed to last an average of six to 18 months, dependent on the progress of the voluntary participant as well as which treatment branch they are entered into – pre-arraignment diversion or pre-dispositional diversion.
Each of the four phases of treatment, which include engagement and assessment, stability and accountability, wellness and community, and program transition, has activities, accomplishments, and achievements which benchmark progression through each phase.
Upon completion of the fourth phase, participants will graduate from the program.
The ultimate goal is to steer participants away from crime and future court involvement and toward positive work, educational and personal success.
Hayden is a long-time advocate and practitioner of diversion, intervention and alternative to prosecution programs. Early in his career he served as chief of the Safe Neighborhood Initiative in Boston, a nationally recognized community-based crime prevention program.
The EAP is an expansion to the Juvenile Alternative Resolution (JAR) Program, which was launched in May of 2017, with participants ranging in age from 12 to 18.
JAR began with six partner community-based agencies to provide individualized services to young people as an alternative to traditional prosecution. After just one year, the program more than doubled in size, adding dozens more service providers to divert more young people away from the criminal court system.
Research has produced solid evidence that the brain does not fully develop until the age of 25. Emerging adults (ages 16-24) make up 10 percent of the state’s population, but represent more than 29 percent of arrests, 23 percent of House of Correction commitments, and 20 percent of Department of Correction commitments. They also have the highest recidivism rate of any group in the adult system – with 76 percent re-arraigned within three years.
“It is clear to me that intervention and prevention efforts are more important than ever. The goal is always to keep our young people out of the system and give them the opportunities to do better and succeed,” Hayden said.
The pilot EAP is open for referrals from community members, law enforcement and non-profit partners, public defenders, and judges.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 20,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.
James Borghesani, Chief of Communications