Board keeps juveniles from reoffending and out of court

Rylan Rumbaugh and his friends thought they were just having a little fun.

It turned into much more when he saw surveillance images of their joy ride on the news.

Rumbaugh, a 17-year-old Cape Coral High School student, was arrested last summer for messing with the golf carts at Ida S. Baker High School.

He and his friends were unaware of the severity of their crimes but learned quickly after being charged with burglary, grand theft, felony criminal mischief and the possession of burglary tools.

"We didn't vandalize anything on purpose," Rumbaugh said. "We didn't break stuff on purpose. We just thought about goofing around on the golf carts and having fun."

Rumbaugh's case was diverted from the court system and funneled into the Neighborhood Accountability Board, one of Lee County's four diversion programs, including juvenile arbitration, the Juvenile Diversion Alternative Program and SalusCare, reserved for juveniles who have been arrested for drug use. Juveniles who are first-time offenders involved in non-violent, mostly misdemeanor crimes and qualifying felonies are often shuttled into these programs.

The Neighborhood Accountability Board, like the use of civil citations, are a form of restorative justice which seeks to repair the harm done instead of just punishing, said Sandra Pavelka, professor and director of the Institute for Youth and Justice Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University.

"We involve the victim and community to the greatest extent possible and we hold the offenders accountable for their crime and wrongdoing," Pavelka said.

Unlike a civil citation where juveniles are not arrested, young offenders who are placed in diversion programs, like Rumbaugh, have been arrested.

"Whenever anybody Google's my name, that's going to be up there," said Rumbaugh, who's hoping to have his record expunged in the future.

Ultimately, part of the board's goal is to make the offender "better citizens and better people," Pavelka said. The boards work, she said, because they help put a face to the crime that's been committed.

"There are some cases where it may not work because there are some people who may not change, and it may not help them," Pavelka said. "But, in most cases, restorative justice will make a difference in their life and will be effective."

Once a juvenile is directed toward the board, a case worker in the Lee County Department of Human Services will meet with the minor and parents to discuss what can be done.

"The idea is a lot of these kid that end up in diversion wouldn't be coming back anyway," said Paul Poland, an assistant state attorney and county court chief who supervises the delinquency and misdemeanor divisions. "They are not your hardcore kids robbing Wal-Mart."

According to the Human Services annual report, during fiscal year 2014, there were 154 participants in the program. Almost $5,000 in restitution was paid to victims. Youths also completed 872.5 community service hours.

"The Neighborhood Accountability Board is designed to get the kid to think a little bit and realize, 'Wow, that really was very stupid,'" Poland said.

In Rumbaugh's case, it worked.

"It was just talking with these adults who seem like they understand," Rumbaugh said. "They understand you are just a kid and they are trying to help you."

Case workers like Nora Donato-Hitchcock connect the juvenile with any services that may help learn from the experience.

"We don't just focus on a crime that was committed," said Donato-Hitchcock, a youth services coordinator supervisor. "It's a holistic approach. It's how it affects the youth and how that youth is doing in school, the family dynamics and what's going on in the home."

According to Donato-Hitchcock, 96 percent of the program's participants remain crime free.

Rumbaugh has begun to think about his future and wants to study to become a writer or director at the University of Central Florida. After the board's discussion with Rumbaugh, they assigned him the project of making a short film. It's made him realize he's more ambitious and he's planning on working with his case worker to provide more videos for the program.

"I can say that I learned my lesson," Rumbaugh said. "I haven't done anything that stupid since then."

"I'll definitely be a lot smarter in the future."

Connect with this reporter on Twitter @MelissaMontoyaO