Pilot program aims to keep juveniles out of trouble, jail

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A pilot program has come to Central Florida to help break a cycle of incarceration for some juveniles in the area.
 
Jeanie Becker-Powell trained people from around the state Monday as part of the SNAP program on how to help kids stay out of the system. Last year, more than 3,800 children between 10 years old and 17 years old ended up in the juvenile system.
 
"Roughly 8 to 9 percent of those kids are who become serious chronic violent offenders and of that population, nearly 50 percent get their first arrest before age 12," Chirsty Daly, justice secretary at the Department of Juvenile Justice, said.
 
The program targets children under the age of 12.
 
SNAP stands for "Stop Now and Plan." The 13-week course walks seven boys who are considered high risk and their parents through role playing lessons and positive reinforcement to teach them how to make the right decisions under pressure.
 
"We have boys who are being suspended from school in kindergarten and first grade. They're fighting and it's aggressive fighting, it's not just a little pushing and shoving," Becker-Powell said.
 
Juvenile justice leaders said they have a golden window of about seven years to keep children from getting into the system. The reason they believe in SNAP is because parents are also taught to help their children.
 
"If you just change the boy's behaviors and you don't give the parents tools to help them intervene, then they're going to go back to doing what they were doing before," Becker-Powell said.
 
Leaders would like the SNAP program to help young girls in the future.

Cox Media Group