More Spending Urged on Delinquency Prevention

The Orange County Grand Jury called on the county Friday to spend more on intervention programs to keep teenagers from getting into trouble. And, to accommodate those who do, the Grand Jury advised adding beds to the juvenile detention system.

Grand Juror Ray Gott, a former juvenile justice officer who chaired the committee that wrote the report, said, “We’re advocating that moneys be identified or reallocated to do delinquency prevention. Keep them out of the system.”

The Grand Jury’s recommendations include asking the county to write a master plan to develop delinquency prevention programs countywide; calling on the Board of Supervisors to increase its budget for intervention programs and to build more facilities to house juvenile offenders; and urging the county Department of Education to develop more vocational education programs for youths.

The recommendations are not binding, but the Department of Education and county board must respond to them within 90 days.