A King County program intended to help juvenile criminal offenders has been put on hold due to a lack of effectiveness.

Following results that show over half of juveniles referred to King County’s Restorative Community Pathways diversion program for a first-time felony are accused of committing another crime within two years, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office decided to pause referrals to the program.

In pursuit of an objective evaluation of how successful the Restorative Community Pathways (RCP) diversion program is, a study showed that 53.2% of juveniles with low-level felony charges referred to the program reoffend within two years, according to a July 17 memo to the King County Council. According to the prosecutor’s office memo, following the evaluation’s results, felony

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