Middlesex District Attorney Ryan Attends Juvenile Justice Project Ceremony at Christa McAuliffe Charter School
FRAMINGHAM – Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan was a featured speaker at the Christa McAuliffe Charter School’s Juvenile Justice Project Ceremony on Wednesday, June 1. Ryan worked with 8th grader students at the school as part of the project to prepare infographics on the Juvenile Justice system. Students working with District Attorney Ryan created a project to demonstrate the importance of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office’s Juvenile Diversion Program’s mission to keep juveniles out of the criminal justice system.
“A lot of hard work and research went into these projects and the students should be very proud of the informative infographics that are the final product,” said District Attorney Ryan. “Thank you to the staff and students at the McAuliffe Charter school for inviting me to participate in this important program.”
District Attorney Ryan worked with students over the course of the project to provide data and information for the infographic and by participating in a Skype interview. The finished product, titled “Fork in the Road”, created by Megan Sidmore and Cecelia Hampton (not pictured), depicts the options that are available to eligible juveniles following the commission of a crime.
As part of the 8th grade Humanities Expedition, Justice, Christa McAuliffe students spent several weeks meeting with experts on juvenile justice. Experts provided the students with data related to the juvenile justice system which became the basis for their thoughtful and creative infographics.
The goals of the Juvenile Diversion Program are to foster acceptance of responsibility and consequences, to keep the juvenile out of the criminal justice system, to prevent the creation of a criminal record, and ultimately to reduce recidivism and help to provide a road map to a successful future.
The MDAO’s Juvenile Diversion Program is designed to work with first-time juvenile offenders as an alternative to prosecution. The program allows juveniles the opportunity to complete a program and/or community services instead of formal prosecution. If the juvenile satisfies all of the requirements of diversion, there will be no further proceedings in the criminal justice system related to the matter.