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Research has shown that the best time to interrupt the prison pipeline is before a person has become involved with crime. 

DJJ’s education, prevention, job-readiness and other intervention programs are designed to introduce young people to new interests and opportunities. By stopping this pipeline in its tracks, we can enhance long-term outcomes as well as support and invest in communities impacted by youth crime.

If a youth has already committed a crime, our goal is to divert them back on to the right track. 

CHOICES
CHOICES teaches young people to make positive decisions to help them avoid repeating criminal behaviors.
Community Juvenile Arbitration Program
As part of a state-wide collaborative effort, these programs divert first-time juvenile offenders charged with a non-violent crime away from the formal juvenile justice system
Earn and Return
Earn & Return is a DJJ youth accountability initiative designed to support the principles of Restorative Justice.
Gang Resistance, Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T)
G.R.E.A.T. is a statewide gang and violence prevention program.
Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI)
The goal of JDAI is to create a system that locks up fewer youth and relies more on proven, family-focused interventions for positive youth development.
Restoring Carolina through Youth Service
This program provides DJJ youth an opportunity to give back to their communities in a positive way and promotes the concept of Restorative Justice.
Teen After-School Centers (TASC)
DJJ has partnered with other youth-serving organizations across the state to provide Teen After School Centers.

The Council for Young Boys and Men is a strength-based group approach program for boys and young men ages 9 to 18. It is designed to promote a safe and healthy passage through pre-teen and adolescent years by building strong, positive relationships in a structured environment. The Council:

  • Addresses masculine definitions and behaviors
  • Builds capacities to find innate value and create good lives
  • Recognizes boys’ strengths and capacities
  • Challenges stereotypes
  • Questions unsafe attitudes about masculinity
  • Encourages solidarity through personal and collective responsibility

Family Solutions is a 10-week family-centered intervention program that targets first time offenders and simultaneously addresses the needs common to DJJ youth and their families. Parents and youth can be court-ordered to complete a Family Solutions cycle or it may be used as a diversionary tool. The objective is to enable the parents to work effectively with their children as they embrace positive and pro-social interactions.

Girl’s Circle is a program for girls ages 9 to 18 designed to foster self-esteem, help girls maintain an authentic connection with peers and adult women in their community, counter trends toward self-doubt and allow for genuine self-expression. Conducted by trained local DJJ county office female staff volunteers, the Girl’s Circle groups consist of 5 to 10 girls who meet once weekly. Topics include:

  • Friendship
  • Body image
  • Female identity
  • Stereotypes
  • Trusting self and others
  • Aggression and dating violence
  • Diversity and cultural heritage
  • Relationships
  • Substance abuse and risky behaviors
  • Goal setting
  • Self-care

Intensive In-Home Services offers a unique combination of rehabilitative behavioral health services that focus on strengthening the family unit in the community. Service plan development, individual therapy, family therapy, family support and crisis intervention services are offered in the youth’s home setting several hours each week.

Intensive Supervision is designed to promote public safety and reduce re-offending. The service targets youth returning to their communities from a correctional facility environment, as well as high-risk youth on probation in communities that require an intensive level of support. 

IS is a level of supervision that requires a caseload of no more than 20 offenders per Intensive Supervision Officer (ISO). Each ISO works to redirect the lives of youth (and their families) toward productivity, self-sufficiency and law-abiding behavior. It has been demonstrated that youth supervised under IS are less likely to re-offend.

Lunch Buddies is a program designed to connect elementary, middle and high school students with a caring adult volunteer. A Lunch Buddy spends an hour or two each month with a student to share lunch, fun and friendship. The Lunch Buddies program also provides an opportunity for DJJ to introduce delinquency prevention and intervention programs to enhance the student’s personal growth and help them make good choices and allows DJJ to give back to the community and make a positive difference in the lives of the youth.

Project: Adopt A-Class is a violence prevention program where local DJJ county offices "adopt" classes at local elementary and middle schools based on their population of “at-risk” youth. Professional DJJ staff spend at least one hour per month directly interacting with their "adopted" students teaching them about making good positive decisions that build character, self-esteem and good citizenship. This program is in partnership with the SC Department of Education, the SC Bar Association and the SC Department of Mental Health.

Project: Right Turn is a program that provides youth and their parents an opportunity to tour one of DJJ’s three evaluation centers as a result of a Family Court order, as an intervention through Arbitration or contract or as a graduated sanction for youth on probation. The program focuses on educating young offenders about good decision making and the potential consequences of continued delinquent behavior and includes a parent education component and a presentation from DJJ’s The Insiders.

Think Twice is a DJJ prevention and intervention initiative consisting of a DJJ-produced video and companion workbook (PDF), designed to provide at-risk youth and their parents/guardians with real-world information about the consequences of juvenile crime and its impact on the victims and the youth personally. Ultimately, Think Twice is intended to help direct youth away from the DJJ system and toward making more positive and informed decisions about their behavior.

Wrap-Around Services are additional support services that are provided to juveniles under DJJ supervision and at risk of placement or institutionalization. These services include transportation and behavior modification services provided by private providers. Transportation services assist the youth and families in accessing the required appointments and services, while behavior modification offers a service plan with the goal of altering behavior that is inappropriate or undesirable while optimizing behavioral functioning.