Accomplishments of Duane Deskins, City of Cleveland’s Newly Named Chief of Prevention Intervention and Opportunity for Youth & Young Adults

From: Office of the Mayor Daniel Williams, Director of Media Relations Office of the Mayor (216) 664-4011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 3, 2017 Accomplishments of Duane Deskins, City of Cleveland’s Newly Named Chief of Prevention Intervention and Opportunity for Youth & Young Adults December 2013 to December 2016 As First Assistant Prosecutor, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office There have been several notable and innovative achievements during Mr Deskins’ three-year tenure in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office as the First Assistant, as well as the Juvenile Chief and Director of Juvenile Crime Prevention At the heart of so many efforts the past few years, was the ability to forge permanent collaborations in pursuit of the public good Police Involved Shootings Duane successfully persuaded the County Prosecutor and other county officials to implement independent investigations of all police deadly use of force cases in Cuyahoga County He also forewarned the Prosecutor that, for similar reasons, there would be a national move for independent prosecution of these cases International High Profile Case The Ice Bucket Challenge raised a large sum of money for the Atrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association and involved pouring ice-cold water over the contributor All over the world, people participated and it was a huge success Unfortunately, in Cuyahoga County, a group of suburban juveniles poured urine over an unsuspecting and vulnerable boy This caused an international uproar with people demanding the juveniles who perpetrated the incident to be tried as adults and imprisoned for years Working closely with local law enforcement, the victim, juvenile court, and all the families involved in the offense, Mr Deskins created a strategy that satisfied the needs of justice and all parties connected to the case Today, few people ### remember the Ice Bucket Challenge case, which is one of the signs a successful leadership Advancing the Juvenile Justice Unit As Chief of the Juvenile Unit, he developed more efficient ways for the unit to run The Juvenile Unit is the only component in the Prosecutor’s Office where a designated prosecutor is on duty 24 hours per day, seven days a week He reorganized the office to have prosecutors available for the public and law enforcement in person or by telephone during the day, and streamlined the nighttime prosecutor rotations to make it less onerous on them and, thereby more effective to law enforcement and the juvenile court As part of this 24 hour - seven days a week staffing, Mr Deskins implemented a protocol requesting the prosecutor prepare written summaries in all cases in which a juvenile was arrested and detained These summaries are distributed to the supervisors of the unit to make them aware of the nature and circumstances of the offender, the offense, and the locale The Juvenile Unit is the area where new prosecutors begin their career As a result, he established weekly prosecutor training called “Fridays @ 2” These sessions include mock trials, as well as, guest lectures by esteemed prosecutors, judges, medical experts, and crime prevention experts So during the three years from 2014, 2015, and 2016, the Juvenile Unit, which is comprised of approximately 25 attorneys and receives over 10,000 cases, had the best average percent of trial outcomes of any unit in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office Addressing Diversity Mr Deskin also worked diligently to create new opportunities for greater minority diversity and inclusion within the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office For the first time, more than half of the summer law clerks, and more than half of the staff and attorneys in the Juvenile Unit were people of color Moreover, he placed minority prosecutors in visible roles, leading gang prosecutions and special events like the Republican National Convention and engaging the community on every level In addition, Duane created opportunities for young and often disadvantaged high school students to work in the Prosecutor’s Office By collaborating with Youth Opportunities Unlimited, University Circle Inc., and others, he found meaningful work for youth and provided broad, sustained, and consistent mentorship for these young people Apprehending Violent Juveniles ### The Juvenile Gang Unit was created by Mr Deskins to address violent gang crime in the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center and throughout the county, which led to the first Ohio Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) indictment of 58 members of the Heartless Felons a violent street gang which originated in the Ohio prison system On Friday, April 18, 2014, this unit presented the first comprehensive gang violence strategy for Cuyahoga County to a group of state, federal and local law enforcement and juvenile probation officers from around the county Since that time the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office has charged approximately 364 violent gang members—and has not lost one case yet As part of these gang prosecutions, Duane collaborated with the juvenile court to allow multi-defendant cases to be charged and assigned to the same judge—a routine process in every adult court The first gang case was the first time this type of effort occurred in the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Law Enforcement Automated Data System (LEADS) is a statewide system that allows law enforcement officers to identify dangerous and violent offenders who have outstanding warrants but did not include juveniles So, Mr Deskins and the Juvenile Unit led the effort, along with our judicial and law enforcement partners, to change the state procedure for all 88 Ohio counties to ensure violent juvenile offenders, including those wanted for murder, rape, gun violence, were included in LEADS His unit also developed a method to add warrants for violent juvenile offenders into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database when there is reason to believe a juvenile offender may have fled out of the State of Ohio In order to improve supervision of violent juvenile offenders, he instituted Juvenile Night Light, a national best practice to reduce crime and juvenile recidivism This program pairs juvenile probation officers with law enforcement officers from around the county to conduct home visits of violent juveniles on probation and parolees and has met with great success In 2015 and 2016, the Juvenile Unit began the Parks, Pools, and Recreation project with the goal of improving the safety and enhancing the enjoyment of the various Cleveland facilities by working with law enforcement, service providers, and others Consequently, these facilities saw a marked reduction in the occurrence of violent crimes Addressing Firearm Violence As part of this effort, Mr Deskins also implemented the first-ever firearm chart that is used to track all firearms recovered by law enforcement in order to make sure all firearms are traced and could be connected to other crimes As part of this anti-crime firearm strategy, Duane instituted a policy to eliminate plea bargains in gun cases, unless the juvenile offender truthfully discloses where ### the gun came from and how he or she obtained it So, within three years the Juvenile Unit has a significantly higher percentage of successful gun prosecutions (43% higher) than the combined totals of the all the units in the Prosecutor’s Office Improving Juvenile Justice in Cuyahoga County In collaboration with the Juvenile Court, Duane helped create the new juvenile diversion project Prior to 2015, the Prosecutor’s Office charged and diverted juveniles living in Cleveland and the Juvenile Court charged and diverted juveniles living in the surrounding suburbs This process resulted in fewer Cleveland juveniles (3% in 2014), mostly African American, being diverted The new process guarantees that every child, regardless of zip code, has an equal opportunity for diversion Now, nearly 40% of the juvenile cases are being diverted and over 50% of the diversions are to juveniles of color In 2015 the total diversions were up approximately 28% and were more than the entire adult court diversions for 2013, 2014, and 2015 combined In 2016, we are on track to exceed the 2015 juvenile diversions Under his leadership this unit has successfully moved all juvenile bookings from the deplorable juvenile conditions at the Cleveland City Jail Prior to 2015, juveniles arrested in Cleveland were booked at the same facilities as the most violent serial offenders, including Ariel Castro and Anthony Sowell Now, under the Central Booking Project, all juveniles arrested in Cleveland are booked in the Juvenile Justice Center The Central Booking process treats juvenile offenders in a humane way and in decent surroundings The Central Booking project has significantly reduced booking process times putting more Cleveland police back on the street sooner The Child Support Improvement Project, now called Families on Track, is a program he created with the Juvenile Court to speed up child support hearings and dispositions, improve opportunities for fathers to pay child support, and create paternity testing on site at the Juvenile Court Finally, his efforts have opened a window of opportunity for people to pay child support at the juvenile court netting over $350,000 in new child support money in its first year Juvenile Safe Surrender is a first of its kind collaboration that allows juveniles offenders to put their lives on a better path and reduce the risks to law enforcement Due to Duane’s leadership this program successfully cleared nearly 200 warrants—matching the results of the first adult Fugitive Safe Surrender In 2015 and 2016, the Juvenile Unit created and collaborated on the first Cuyahoga County Black History Month Program named in honor of the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones This free annual program brought together people from ### across the County to celebrate distinguished leaders and young people in Cleveland communities and to listen to the leaders who were part of the modern civil rights movement This included the late Congressman Louis Stokes, Clarence Jones, who was Dr King’s personal attorney, and Ambassador Andrew Young, who was one of Dr King’s most trusted lieutenants Republican National Convention In addition, Duane recently led the Prosecutor’s Office team in the highly successful Republican National Convention, where he organized and prepared training manuals and helped coordinate suburban and Cleveland police officers regarding arrests and de-escalation He engaged with prosecutor’s offices from around the country to learn from their efforts at prior Republican and Democratic National Conventions As a result, we were the only law office with prepared responses for Secret Service event simulation trainings Most Recent Initiatives In collaboration with Case Western Reserve University, Mr Deskins developed a no cost strategy to employ thousands of young people, ages 16 to 25, in meaningful and well paid employment, as a way to deter and prevent youth violence in Cleveland and throughout Cuyahoga County He also developed a strategy to move juveniles from school expulsions and suspensions into substance abuse treatment without stigmatizing anyone who had a criminal record The initial implementation of the program would focus on youth in the Bedford, Bay Village and Cleveland schools—each of which has a high percentage of youth who are suspended or expelled for substance abuse The program is called Ticket to Treatment and provides treatment opportunities— through the Juvenile Drug Court or Juvenile Diversion for every juvenile participant Duane led the effort to bring comprehensive bail reform to Cuyahoga County Working with the Arnold Foundation, we were able to bring a new bail reform tool to the Cleveland Municipal Court, which accounts for nearly 70% of all county prosecutions This will reduce significantly the jail population, improve public safety, provide greater racial equity, and reduce the cost of operating the jail In addition, he worked with the Arnold Foundation to develop a companion prosecutor tool that will improve the number and accuracy and equity of adult diversions Duane states that his most important achievement was being able to use this three-year opportunity to appreciate what the public wanted from the Cuyahoga ### County Prosecutor’s Office and to create broad collaborations in order to achieve meaningful and historic change with minimal or no cost to the public -30- ### ... juvenile was arrested and detained These summaries are distributed to the supervisors of the unit to make them aware of the nature and circumstances of the offender, the offense, and the locale The... Prosecutor’s Office By collaborating with Youth Opportunities Unlimited, University Circle Inc., and others, he found meaningful work for youth and provided broad, sustained, and consistent mentorship for. .. cost strategy to employ thousands of young people, ages 16 to 25, in meaningful and well paid employment, as a way to deter and prevent youth violence in Cleveland and throughout Cuyahoga County