Youth Crime Programs Get $10 Million
The California Board of Corrections has signed off on a $10-million grant for nearly a dozen Orange County programs aimed at curbing juvenile crime, the governor’s office announced Thursday.
The grant will help fund 11 local initiatives, including a new team of investigators that will gather intelligence on problem high school students in areas patrolled by the Sheriff’s Department.
The funds are part of a $121-million package set aside last year by the state Legislature--the largest ever one-time grant for juvenile crime prevention programs in California, according to the governor’s office.
“These funds will enhance public safety by supporting collaborative programs that have proven effective in reducing crime and delinquency among at-risk juveniles,” Gov. Gray Davis said in a prepared statement released Thursday.
The board’s approval last week cleared the way for county law enforcement agencies to begin building a team of investigators that will monitor problem students, mostly in South County.
The team will focus on trying to prevent the type of campus violence witnessed at Columbine High School in Colorado, where two students killed 12 classmates, a teacher and themselves in 1999.
In addition, the state grant will help more than double the number of youngsters eligible to enter Orange County’s juvenile drug court, which provides an intense regimen of treatment overseen by a county judge.
The funds will also help expand a county program that targets first-time offenders who authorities believe are likely to go on to commit more crimes.
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