Prevention

Responsibilities

The Prevention Unit is responsible for diverting children deemed to be at-risk to commit delinquent acts away from committing such delinquent acts. This difficult task is accomplished primarily by working closely with both parents and their at-risk children.

Parent-Child Conferences

Interventions include such activities as Crisis Intervention Conferences in which the parent and child meet together with a Prevention Specialist to discuss the at-risk behavioral issues being displayed by the child either at school, or at home. A plan delineating ways to eliminate such behaviors is devised and agreed upon by all parties.

During these parent-child conferences, conditions of juvenile probation are discussed and Prevention Specialists inform the youth about the possible legal consequences of continuing to engage in at-risk activities.

Public School Services

The Prevention Unit also works closely with the public schools in Brazos County focusing on delinquency prevention. Prevention Specialists spend the majority of each day in the schools counseling at-risk children, educating students, teachers, and administrators on juvenile justice issues, and serving as a liaison between the juvenile department and the schools districts.

Prevention Specialists spend time each day in various class rooms discussing a PowerPoint presentation designed for young people ages 9 - 16 that addresses many of the issues affecting children today. Such issues include, but are not limited to, truancy prevention, delinquency prevention, and the procedures and conditions of juvenile probation.