D.A. Cites Profit in Bad-Check Writer Reform Program

SANTA ANA — A 3-year-old program aimed at reforming bad-check writers has recovered more than $1 million for Orange County merchants--while not costing taxpayers a cent, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Individuals who bounced checks totaling less than $1,500 can avoid criminal prosecution by entering the Bad Check Prosecution Program, which requires restitution and completion of an eight-hour course on financial management, Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi said in a statement released Thursday.

The program was begun in September, 1990, in response to merchants’ complaints about bad checks. The district attorney’s office plans to ask the Board of Supervisors to extend the program for three more years.

Individuals with criminal records are not eligible. Bad-check writers who fail to complete the program face prosecution for the crime. There is no cost to taxpayers or merchants because violators fund the program, according to Capizzi.

Since the program began, more than 124,600 bad checks have been processed and more than 10,160 bad-check writers have attended the course, Capizzi’s statement said. The program has a recidivism rate of less than 1%, he said.