A Baltimore City pilot program that diverts first-time young offenders to support services instead of into the juvenile justice system is slated to expand citywide as early as this summer.
Early indications suggest that young people in the pilot are benefiting, but questions about the program remain. Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates told The Baltimore Sun he worries such diversions might artificially lower city crime statistics. City officials also could not say this week exactly how much the program costs.
The 3-year-old SideStep Pre-Arrest Youth Diversion Pilot Program has an 85% non-recidivism rate for young offenders who completed their program, according to the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), which administers the program.
Since the pilot launched in 2022, 51 children have been placed into the diversion program. MONSE lost contact with three of the young offenders, whose cases later ended up with the Department of Juvenile Services.
“Forty-eight successfully completed their assigned programming,” MONSE spokesperson Jack French said. “Over 85% of participants who completed their assigned programming (41 out of 48 youth) did not reoffend within 6 months after the initial diversion.”
After a complaint is made, police officers work with the Department of Juvenile Services booking team to determine whether a youth would be a good fit for diversion, Baltimore City Police spokesperson Lindsey Eldridge said. Once enrolled in a program, a child can be offered services for mental health, family mediation or substance abuse, for example.
SideStep was piloted from 2022 through 2024 in Baltimore’s Western Police District, which is historically known for the highest rates of gun violence in Baltimore, Eldridge said.
A young person suspected of misdemeanor assault, shoplifting, destruction of property, larceny (theft), possession of a controlled dangerous substance (CDS), and “unauthorized use” (generally a charge applying to automobile or property theft) were eligible for the program, as long as they were firsttime offenders and had no open warrants.
Before the citywide launch, MONSE will work with city officials to work out kinks discovered during the pilot. One major change will be eliminating “unauthorized use” as a qualifying crime.
“Once scaled, young people citywide between the ages of 10 and 17 can be referred to SideStep’s offense-based diversion process at the discretion of the responding officer,” said MONSE Director Stefanie Mavronis. “The program will also accept youth referrals from school police and directly from community members.”
Baltimore Police supports the citywide expansion and said it is working to launch the program this summer.
“We believe that diversion is vital in holding youth accountable, while providing timely services without lengthy court wait times,” said Eldridge. “This approach is restorative in practice and helps address disparities in equity and inclusion.”
Questions about the pilot program
Bates said a single case of unauthorized use he plans to prosecute initiated through SideStep, and it came with a myriad of problems. He would like the issues resolved before the program launches citywide.
“We knew nothing about the program,” Bates said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.
Bates said his office was unaware of the juvenile’s history with the diversion program because he was unaware of the program itself or that it was being piloted. And, under current law, MONSE is not required to report SideStep cases to DJS. The State’s Attorney’s Office receives cases from DJS for prosecution.
Bates said because a juvenile may have gone through SideStep, his office could have discovery issues because he does not know anything about the person’s experiences with service programs.
“By not telling us what’s going on, we have a huge issue with the court,” Bates said. “We now have unintentionally misled the court, though we didn’t want to.”
In addition, while Baltimore Police tracks SideStep diversion cases internally, it does not report that information to DJS for purposes of crime statistics. Therefore, Bates said, diversion cases are not counted as juvenile crime incidents by DJS.
“Are they properly reported as juvenile arrest numbers?” Bates said. “That’s important because if we’re saying that juvenile crime is down, is it really down?”
Effective Nov. 1, Baltimore Police will be required to notify DJS of all diversion cases, according to MONSE.
Questions about cost
MONSE couldn’t provide The Sun with an exact cost for the pilot program.
In 2023, the city awarded $375,000 in grants to eight community-based organizations to “serve as pre-arrest youth diversion program service providers,” according to a MONSE news release. In February 2024, an additional $445,000 was awarded for 11 service providers and an evaluation partner, totaling $820,000, Mavronis said during an interview.
MONSE later said not all the money awarded was strictly for the SideStep program and that the contracts for the service providers were for “dual” purposes.
“Of the roughly $820,000 allocated to service providers in FY (fiscal year) ‘23 and FY ‘24, MONSE spent $717,515.68 to support those organizations’ general work to provide opportunities for young people across Baltimore in addition to SideStep referrals,” French wrote in an email, later adding in an interview: “We are in the process of figuring out what the program will cost citywide.”
Leona Lee, an assistant professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who has an extensive background in juvenile sentencing, said diversion programs are not expensive compared to what it would cost to incarcerate a person, even for 24 hours. The psychological effects of incarceration can also be damaging, she said.
“Diversion bypasses the juvenile justice system, which is good,” Lee said. “You don’t have a real criminal record because you don’t have to go through the court.”
But Lee warned, measuring recidivism over a short period is not effective.
“One year later or two years, you can really see the difference between the program and those who didn’t go,” Lee said. “Short periods of time you don’t see the real effect.”
Have a news tip? Contact crime and public safety reporter Glynis Kazanjian at gkazanjian@baltsun.com, 301.674.7135, or on WhatsApp.
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