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How King County invested in juvenile justice programs, and then checked out

King County launched its Restorative Community Pathways Program in 2021. Its goal is to reduce the number of young people sent into the court system.

Instead, it connects youths accused of lower-level crimes with community groups for rehabilitation.

Restorative Community Pathways has received millions of dollars in King County funding, but when KUOW investigative reporter Ann Dornfeld took a deeper look, she found the county has only loosely tracked how the nonprofits involved serve kids, and can’t say how many youth have completed diversions.

Records are also sketchy for another county crime prevention program – the goal of which is to prevent youth gun violence.

Read the full story here and listen to the full interview above.

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