Gov. Bill Owens has slashed $228 million from the state budget. Among the losers are libraries, the arts, affordable housing, health programs and teacher training. But for Nili Feingold, the cuts take a personal toll.

At the end of the month, her job is history. And Boulder County will lose a remarkable juvenile-rehabilitation program.

Feingold is director of juvenile diversion at the Boulder County District Attorney's office, a post she's held since 1994. The program, which gives first-time juvenile offenders a second chance, is funded by a grant from the state Division of Criminal Justice. On Friday, Owens chopped the division's juvenile-diversion programs statewide, saving about $2.4 million this year.

"Juvenile diversions" take kids who are first-time offenders out of the court system and place them in a closely monitored regimen of restitution and rehabilitation. Such kids must accept responsibility for the offense and submit to close supervision. Further, they must agree to several conditions, including, for instance, community-service and therapy.

Feingold's office, one of 30 statewide, manages 300 kids a year and gets $85,000 annually. In the last year, her program has collected $54,000 in restitution from offenders. The kids performed 5,281 hours of community service.

Seventy-five percent of participating kids negotiate the Boulder juvenile-diversion program successfully; that's 10 percent higher than the statewide average for diversion programs.

"It's the most cost-effective program," Feingold said. "If these kids were to go through probation, it would cost so much more money."

"The biggest gift we give the juveniles and their families is a second chance," Feingold said. But it's a rigorous road to that second chance. If a kid has broken into a home, the kid might be required to build houses with Habitat for Humanity. If another steals from the elderly, the penance might include working at a nursing home. All the while, Feingold's office tries to address the conditions that spawned the delinquency. In some cases, that might include family therapy.

Eric Weisman, a guardian ad litem, works closely with Feingold's office and was reeling from the news Monday. "It will be a real loss to this county," he said. Weisman said the juvenile-diversion program does a better job of supervision than does the probation department.

"It's not easy getting through diversion," Weisman said. Sometimes, Feingold's office will visit kids as often as once weekly, if that's what's necessary, he said.

So how could such a worthy endeavor get the ax? Owens conceded that this "may be a worthwhile program," but he said it duplicated a similar program in the Division of Youth Corrections. The division did not respond to a request for information about its program.

But Owens' rationale is news to Feingold. "We are very careful not to duplicate services," she said.

It's also news to Weisman. "I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about, and I suspect he doesn't either."

The governor is big on roads and tough on crime, so here's a metaphor he can understand: It's dumb to destroy a detour from crime.

Reach Clint Talbott at (303) 473-1367 or talbottc@thedailycamera.com.

June 4, 2002

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