MINNESOTA

Storefront Group initiative aims to reduce property crimes by youth

A Richfield-based program for juveniles who commit property-related crimes has demonstrated a low recidivism rate among participants.
Juveniles are referred to the Storefront Group’s Property Offender Program after they commit such property-related crimes as shoplifting, vandalism, trespassing or arson. Participants must be between 11 and 17 years old and first-time offenders charged with misdemeanors.
Those who complete the program successfully do not have to go to court, and the incident is expunged from their record if they do not commit another crime within six months, said Jennifer Mosey, a therapist with the Storefront Group in Richfield.
In 2003, two out of 99 participants were charged with other crimes within a year of completing the program, according to Mosey’s data. Though 2004 data hasn’t been approved yet, data from earlier years indicates a low recidivism rate as well.
In 2002, nine out of 139 participants offended again within a year, and in 2001 the number was nine out of 125 participants.

The Storefront Group has had difficulty determining how that rate compares with juveniles who choose to go to court because of the difficulty in gathering data about juveniles, Mosey said.
The program serves young people in Edina, Richfield, Bloomington, St. Louis Park, Eden Prairie, Hopkins, and south Minneapolis. Other organizations serve juveniles in other parts of the metropolitan area.
The Storefront Group describes itself as “a multi-faceted human service and mental health provider” focusing on school-age children, according to its Web site.
The Storefront Group’s program is different from others in that it emphasizes, and requires, parental involvement, Mosey said.
“We try to open up channels of communication between children and adults,” Mosey said. “That’s what really makes it a good program. We find it to be valuable because families have being able to talk about this in a group setting.”
In the program, staff members first provide an assessment of the juvenile who has been referred.

“On the first interview with them and their parents, staff members try to find out if it’s an isolated incident or if it’s related to family issues, school issues — what is it that drove this incident — so staff can try to refer them to some other areas of the Storefront group,” said Vice President Development Michelle Guion.
In the program, which consists mainly of three two-hour sessions, participants listen to community members such as police officers or prosecutors, watch a video presentation about values, and attend small-group sessions.
“They learn that what they did affects a lot of people,” Guion said. “Stores have to raise their prices and the community has to pay salaries of police officers and so forth and so on.”
Hennepin County covers most of the cost of the program, paying $450 per juvenile, while each family pays $40.
However, the program’s results speak for its importance, Storefront Group staff said.
“Only having a 2 percent recidivism rate in 2003 is pretty darn good,” Guion said.
“Good kids make bad choices sometimes, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad kids,” Mosey said. “This allows them to learn from their mistakes in the past and move forward.”

Seth Rowe
12 May 2005

http://www.mnsun.com/story.asp?city=Eden_Prairie&story=157433

home / Previous feature