Overview

It is our commitment at the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to provide quality prevention and intervention programs to help youth make good decisions and help prevent them from engaging in delinquent behavior. One such program is CHOICES.

CHOICES is a curriculum tool that teaches young people to make positive decisions in their lives to help them avoid repeating criminal behaviors. It is taught at the local county level in many communities across the state, and like many of DJJ’s programs CHOICES is designed to promote good citizenship to help youth be successful in life and avoid becoming involved with crime.

Among the many benefits of the program are that the presenter can be creative by tailoring it to the particular audience. With every lesson standing on its own the program offers great flexibility and enhances the knowledge of student’s legal awareness. The CHOICES program also promotes Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ), which is a model for juvenile offenders to develop competencies that will enable them to remain crime-free.

CHOICES is a collaboration between DJJ, the University of South Carolina School of Law’s Student Pro Bono Program and Children’s Law Center and the South Carolina Bar’s Law Related Education Division. Together the partners developed and implemented CHOICES as a life skill legal awareness program, which has aided hundreds of young people in South Carolina

The CHOICES Curriculum CHOICES is a versatile curriculum. It can be customized to meet the needs of our youth, used as a diversion program for non-violent offenders, and as a group activity for Juvenile Pre-Trial Intervention and Juvenile Arbitration Programs. It is also an excellent case management tool for DJJ Community Specialists and Intensive Supervision Officers who supervise juveniles on probation or parole. And, the program can be used with youth in classroom settings at schools, Teen After-School Centers (TASC), and Boys and Girls Clubs. CHOICES lesson curriculum include:

• History of Choices 
• Rules, Laws and Values in Our Lives 
• Juveniles – What Are They? 
• Marriage and Family Relationships 
• Child Abuse and Neglect • Exploring Law Enforcement 
• Alcohol or Drugs Mixed with Driving
•  Consumer Law & Social Media 
• Victimization and the Impact of Crime & Gangs 
• Importance of Education & Bullying 
• Conflict Resolution