Brave New World: Redefining How Prosecutors Engage and Address Youth-At-Risk

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Riverside County District Attorney's Office

Second Presenter's Institution

Riverside County District Attorney's Office

Third Presenter's Institution

Riverside County District Attorney's Office

Fourth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Fifth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Location

Session 1 Breakouts

Strand #1

Hands: Safety & Violence Prevention

Strand #2

Home: Family & Community Engagement

Relevance

This presentation will detail how prosecutors, community partners, and schools can work together to ensure the well-being of all children and youth by specifically addressing core tenants of the HANDS and HOME strands.

HANDS: This presentation addresses several unique law enforcement and education-based intervention and prevention approaches to keeping youth in the classroom and out of the criminal justice system.

HOME: This presentation explains how, instead of focusing on the prosecution of children, our Crime Prevention Unit utilizes education, mentorship, and local resources to serve youth-at-risk for incorrigible or illegal behavior in order to strengthen family and community bonds.

Brief Program Description

Designed for law enforcement, educators, and all citizens working with youth-at-risk, this unique presentation details how prosecutors in one of the country’s largest counties has reimagined how they address youth-at-risk of entering the criminal justice system by collaborating with schools, communities, and even ex-gang members and former drug addicts in order to prevent juvenile crime and adverse childhood experiences before they occur.

Summary

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office proposes to have three of its most senior Crime Prevention Unit attorneys present on some of our Unit’s most innovative programs:

a. De-Escalation and Assistance Response Team (DART);

b. Gang and Mentorship Education (GAME);

c. Youth Empowerment and Safety (YES); and

d. Literacy Programs in Lockdown Juvenile Institutions.

These prosecutors will explain how each program was created, is currently operated, and how similar programs can be replicated anywhere in the country with the help of school and community engagement.

DART

DART is a multi-agency collaborative led by our Crime Prevention Unit that provides preventive anti-violence education to schools and deploys experienced Deputy District Attorneys, victim services crisis response advocates, and other essential community partners to school sites in response to school-related traumatic events and/or violent incidents. Examples of traumatic incidents DART can respond to include race-based fights, student overdoses, and in-person or online hate speech directed towards students and/or staff.

GAME

GAME is an anti-gang program designed to reduce youth gang violence while seeking to educate its audiences about the dangers of gang membership and substance abuse. GAME presentations are facilitated by prosecutors with assistance from real hardcore ex-gang members that have experienced the realities and repercussions of gang violence firsthand. GAME is presented to all schools and community groups wishing to prevent and eliminate gang activity in their schools and neighborhoods.

YES

YES provides in-depth youth empowerment and safety presentations for schools and community groups. YES addresses crucial social issues affecting our communities’ youth like illegal and prescription drug abuse, online safety, human trafficking, bullying, and the power of words/hate speech. YES presentations empower youth participants to stand-up for others and themselves when confronted with these potentially devastating subjects.

Juvenile Literacy Programs in Lockdown Institutions

Our Crime Prevention Unit operates three literacy-based education and mentorship programs in our county’s lockdown juvenile institutions. Recognizing the direct correlation between literacy and incarceration rates, these programs were designed to create an interest in reading amongst its participants while also providing them with guest speakers that serve as positive role models and mentors.

Evidence

There is no question that our Crime Prevention Unit’s innovative models are effective as Riverside County recently experienced a 46% decrease in juvenile court criminal filings over a four year period, helping youth-at-risk remain in the educational system and out of the Juvenile Justice System. Riverside County also experienced a decrease in filed juvenile gang crime cases between 2017-2019.

One of our Crime Prevention Unit programs has been recognized by a White House initiative, Harvard University, and the California State Association of Counties as an effective and innovative community improvement best practice. Due to its effectiveness, that program is currently being modeled in El Salvador to address gang violence in that country.

GAME averages 250 presentations (gang awareness, drug awareness, parent education, and prescription drug awareness presentations) to approximately 23,000 people each year.

Since 2013, over 1,900 youth-at-risk of entering the criminal justice system have participated in our literacy programs and they have collectively read over 2,000,000 pages of literature. These statistics are especially significant given that 85% of juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system are functional illiterates and penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html).

Learning Objectives

1) Participants will learn key insights into the juvenile justice system and programs designed to prevent youth from entering the system in the first place

2) Participants will learn how these programs can be created and operated in their own jurisdictions

3) Participants will learn valuable statistical information and data highlighting prevalent social issues affecting youth-at-risk of entering the criminal justice system

Biographical Sketch

Gerry Lopez

J.D., Managing Deputy District Attorney, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside, CA

Mr. Lopez has been a prosecutor for the past 30 years and recognized early in his career that justice and public safety required, not only incarceration of violent criminals, but also meaningful efforts to divert young people away from crime and delinquency. Mr. Lopez has spent his career dedicated toward youth delinquency prevention, and intervention programs and strategies.

In 1997, Mr. Lopez became the lead attorney of the Riverside County Youth Accountability Team (YAT) program and the primary influence in the expansion and improvement of the Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) program. In 2005, Mr. Lopez created a countywide parenting education and gang and drug awareness program called GAME (Gang Awareness, Mentorship, and Education). In 2013, Mr. Lopez was appointed to the California Juvenile Justice Standing Committee which serves a critical role in making recommendations to the state regarding the juvenile justice system. In 2013 and 2014, Mr. Lopez was honored to be one of only a few chosen to serve as international trainers for a White House program designed to reduce youth gang participation in Central America and the United States. In 2015, Mr. Lopez became the first ever supervisor of a newly created, cutting edge prosecutorial team called the Crime Prevention Unit. The unit is responsible for enhancing public safety through extensive community-wide prosecution driven prevention and intervention efforts.

Evelyn Essenwanger

J.D., Deputy District Attorney, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside, CA

Mrs. Essenwanger has served as a prosecutor in Riverside County, CA for the past twelve years. Until 2012, Mrs. Essenwanger spent her career prosecuting crimes involving domestic violence, identity theft, insurance fraud, and worker’s compensation fraud. In 2012, her passion for youth mentorship and juvenile crime prevention led her to join the office’s Juvenile Division where she began working as the coordinator for Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), now known as GAME (Gang Awareness Mentoring and Education).

As the GAME coordinator, Mrs. Essenwanger provides gang awareness education and prevention trainings to youth and educators. Through GAME, Mrs. Essenwanger also delivers powerful Drug Abuse and Opioid Awareness presentations, engages in community partnerships designed to reduce youth gang participation, and serves as a community liaison specializing in youth delinquency and intervention services.

Hunter Taylor

J.D., Deputy District Attorney, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside, CA

Mr. Taylor has been a prosecutor for thirteen years and has tried cases involving all types of crimes ranging from drug offenses to homicide. He is currently the Team Leader of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office Crime Prevention Unit and the founder of Real Men Read, a young men’s literacy program primarily operated in Riverside County’s Juvenile Detention Facilities. Mr. Taylor is also an adjunct professor at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law in Orange County, CA where he teaches Legal Negotiations, California Evidence, and Client Interviewing and Counseling.

Keyword Descriptors

Juvenile Justice, Crime Prevention, Prosecutor, Outreach, Community

Presentation Year

2021

Start Date

3-8-2021 10:20 AM

End Date

3-8-2021 11:20 AM

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Mar 8th, 10:20 AM Mar 8th, 11:20 AM

Brave New World: Redefining How Prosecutors Engage and Address Youth-At-Risk

Session 1 Breakouts

Designed for law enforcement, educators, and all citizens working with youth-at-risk, this unique presentation details how prosecutors in one of the country’s largest counties has reimagined how they address youth-at-risk of entering the criminal justice system by collaborating with schools, communities, and even ex-gang members and former drug addicts in order to prevent juvenile crime and adverse childhood experiences before they occur.