PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The District Attorney’s Office gathered on Tuesday to outline one of its top priorities of 2025: addressing juvenile justice.
Starting this week, Philadelphia police will stop arresting juveniles accused of first-time, low-level offenses, and will instead send them to a diversion program.
“To the extent people that we would put into diversion after arrest, go into diversion before arrest, and to the extent it is equally successful, that’s a great thing, and we support that,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner.
DAO officials say their aim is to hold young people who commit crimes accountable, while expanding those juvenile diversion programs, as well as victim restoration and community safety. Assistant District Attorney Jordan King says diversion is an opportunity for youth to avoid a juvenile record and the collateral consequences that come from system involvement.
“This alternative to prosecution is not only cheaper for the taxpayer, it also is a system that is an option that the system can use to alleviate strains on other aspects of the system,” King said.