Justice Ministry Doubles Child Diversion Officer Team to Address Growing Service Demand

The Justice Ministry has doubled the number of Child Diversion Officers serving the country to accommodate increased referrals from the courts and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

This was disclosed by Portfolio Minister, Hon. Delroy Chuck, who delivered the main address during the Ministry’s Child Diversion Forum at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St. Andrew on May 2.

The event was held under the theme ‘Act Now: Partner for Justice, Healing and Hope’.

Since 2020, the Justice Ministry has been redirecting children, aged 12 to 17, from the formal criminal justice system to its National Child Diversion Programme.

Mr. Chuck informed that participants benefit from mentorship, individual and family counselling, educational and skills training, drug counselling and sexual and reproductive health education.

“I want to emphasise that, not only is the programme going extremely well but the number of persons who have benefited has increased enormously. The number of referrals we’re getting from the courts and from the police have also increased. So, we have had to double up the number of Child Diversion Officers in each of the parishes,” he shared.

Mr. Chuck cited several cases of children who had come into conflict with the law and were successfully redirected under the programme.

“I remember one youngster coming to one of these forums at the Ministry of Justice. [He] said when he got into trouble, he just felt life [was] nothing but darkness. He couldn’t really see what the future [held] for him. He said after [participating in] the mentorship programme, he now sees the light. It was so beautiful to hear the youngster saying, ‘my mentor is the one who has allowed me to see the light and I now see a future’,” he shared.

The Minister pointed out that the programme has produced many similar success stories.

“I can say without fear of contradiction that the few that I have met, who have been through the programme, speak very highly, not only of the mentorship but the support that they’ve had,” he stated.

Mr. Chuck indicated that the Ministry plans to expand the programme further, allowing school officials to make referrals.

“We are only taking referrals from the police and the courts. We would like that a child guidance officer can refer the child to us but the demand is so great that we have not been able to truly accept all the referrals… and most of these referrals need the mentorship,” he said.

In this regard, the Minister urged socially conscious well-thinking members of the society, especially Justices of the Peace (JPs), to volunteer as mentors under the programme.

“We have trained over 400 mentors, but many of them are in different parts of the island. Last year, we trained over 100, but we want to train even more mentors so that when a child has been referred, we can get a mentor easily accessible to that child. Although we have many trained mentors, they may be in different parts of the island or different parts of the parish… and you don’t want a child or a mentor to be travelling 10, 20 miles to have the interaction,” Mr. Chuck stated.

He reiterated that the programme is impacting many young lives, noting that the feedback and stories of transformation shared by participants are testament to this fact.

“Young lives have been redirected away from the gangs, away from conflicts, away from indiscipline, to becoming really upright young persons who see a purpose in life, who see the need to be accountable for their actions, and who see hope in their education and in their future prospects to be good citizens of Jamaica,” Minister Chuck maintained.

The Child Diversion Programme received praise from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Jamaica Representative, Olga Isaza, who described the initiative as a beacon of what is possible when policies are grounded in evidence, compassion, and collaboration.

She emphasised that by offering alternatives to prosecution for children in conflict with the law, the programme has created pathways to counselling, mentorship and community support, thereby changing young lives and strengthening society.

“It is positive proof that investment in diversion rather than detention better serves both children and society,” Ms. Isaza added.