Smith, 15, has been looking after horses at Shining Hope Farms in north Charlotte for four months. On a recent weekday, he was learning how to ride one.
Being around the farm is a new experience for him — it’s one he’s enjoying.
“I never had an opportunity to clean horses and ride by myself. Now, I’m learning something new as I’m getting older. I want to see new things and become a better person because, last time, I wasn’t a better person,” Smith said.
WFAE isn’t using Smith’s first name since he’s a juvenile. He’s part of the Mecklenburg County Youth Justice Program, which is run by the national group Youth Advocate Programs. YAP also runs violence interrupter programs in two Charlotte neighborhoods.
Juvenile crime spiked last year in Charlotte with more than 3,000 arrests, and it has continued to rise this year. Most kids who are arrested don’t go to a detention center. Many are assigned to programs that aim to stop them from getting in trouble with the law.
YAP's program is focused on building relationships and exposing kids to new experiences. The court refers youth to the program for offenses that include thefts from stores, stealing cars, assault and gun charges.
In Mecklenburg County, at least 845 juveniles in the 2022-23 fiscal year were diverted from the court system into programs like these, while 288 were placed in detention.
Smith doesn’t say why he was arrested, but said he was caught up in the wrong crowd.
“The people I was around were just being in the streets, not doing nothing with their lives. Just running around being bad — taking people’s cars, shooting at people’s houses, and all that,” Smith said.
Smith has developed new relationships at the farm, and the program has provided him with a mentor. He said he’s now surrounded by people who want to help him grow as a person.
Hope Knuckles-Perks, who directs the youth justice program, says helping around the farm and riding horses is a form of therapy that boosts kids' self-esteem. She’s also connected kids to photography and tattooing classes.
“When we expose them to different things, things they’ve never been exposed to, and show them there is a different way to live life, and there are other opportunities other than the ones we choose in the streets, it makes a difference,” Knuckles-Perks said.
Offering a mentor and assistance to counteract negative influences
The Mecklenburg County Youth Justice Program, which started in 2019, currently works with 20 youth and up to 36 kids in a year. Some have stolen cars. Property crimes, like auto theft, account for a large portion of juvenile arrests. Two-thirds of auto theft suspects arrested in Charlotte last year were juveniles.
Perks said the youth in her program tell her they steal cars because it gives them an adrenaline rush.
“They steal a car; they get in, drive fast, and tear the car up. It’s like a game. They think it’s fun, but some of it is to be cool with their peers,” Knuckles-Perks said. “When they get in the cars, and they’re stealing stuff, it could be to get money to feed their family and to get money to take care of themselves; they may need financial help.”
That’s why the program also connects families with resources, like money for rent or groceries. A mentor works with each youth to give them rides to court and activities and help with schoolwork. That’s how Smith gets to the farm.
Keri Thompson has built a close relationship with Smith and his family. He spends about eight hours a week with Smith, visiting him at home and having a range of conversations with him "about life, about decision-making, about impulse control, about controlling your feelings," Thompson said.
“It’s all about being able to make the right decisions. And that’s what is most important and apparent to [Smith] right now — being able to make the right decision that won’t cause a determinant effect on his life.”
The state funds many court diversion programs. A 2023 state analysis found that 75% of juveniles have not run into trouble with the law in the two years following the completion of these programs.
The county's Criminal Justice Services contracts with YAP. Over the past five years, the youth justice program has worked with 135 youth and says nearly 90% of them have not reoffended.
The hope is that Smith’s improved behavior will be a permanent change.
CMPD’s JADE unit monitors teenagers with multiple arrests
CMPD launched an initiative in January, called JADE, to focus on kids who are repeatedly arrested. JADE stands for Juvenile Accountability and Diversion Empowerment.
In the first half of this year, there were close to 1,700 juvenile arrests. By far those involve property crime, but violent crime involving juveniles is also up. Of those total arrests, 61% were juveniles who had been previously arrested, according to CMPD records.
CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings has said too many teenagers keep getting arrested. He says more resources are needed to confront the problem.
CMPD operates its own outreach and youth diversion programs, but Jennings says Mecklenburg County needs to reopen its juvenile detention center to get some repeat offenders off the street. The center closed at the end of 2022. CMPD came up with the JADE initiative as another way to address the problem.
JADE is a special unit within the police department that monitors what CMPD calls its “most prolific juvenile offenders.” Officers conduct investigations and operations involving juveniles. Officers also visit teenagers’ homes on a weekly basis. CMPD Lt. Crystal Fletcher helped start the initiative. She says the unit has fewer than 10 officers.
"They're trying to build relationships, see what else we can get them involved in … educating the parents on the laws about juvenile delinquency, and how they can be charged if they're not more part of their lives," Fletcher said. "And, then, just about the other resources that we have available.”
Those resources include counseling services, financial planning assistance and help finding jobs.
CMPD officials mentioned the JADE unit ahead of this year’s July 4th celebrations uptown. Officers visited the homes of 32 juveniles who the department says were behind last year’s disruptions. CMPD says only one of those reoffended during this year’s festivities. There was a total of 10 arrests of juveniles that night.
Fletcher says that, so far, JADE has shown promise and hopes to expand the number of officers in the unit and increase their home visits.
