Mission

To create and maintain within a graduated sanctions model, a comprehensive network of innovative community-based programs which re-enforce youth accountability and restorative justice, promotes public safety, and addresses the needs of the Court.

Goals and Objectives

•  To provide a cost-effective program for juvenile offenders that emphasizes juvenile accountability, while educating juveniles to the cause and effect of their actions
• To reinforce juvenile accountability
• To provide a viable service to the community, while creating a sense of community service within the juvenile
• To provide the Court with an alternative sanction to address non-compliant behaviors

Duration of Program

Until completion of assigned work hours and/or next Court date.

Eligibility Criteria

•  8 through 17 years
• Have been processed through the Hampton or Newport News Court Service Unit Intake Office
• Have been adjudicated and ordered to participate by either the Hampton or Newport News Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court
• Are under the jurisdiction of the respective Circuit Court pending the appeal process of a juvenile court conviction and ordered for placement
• Have been referred by an authorized referring agency/program such as the Young Juvenile Offender Program, Newport News Juvenile Drug Court, the Detention Review Committee, and the HYPE Program
• Post-dispositional status and referred by the assigned Court Service Unit as a graduated sanction for non-compliance with established supervision rules

Benefits to Participants

HERP creates an opportunity for juveniles to gain a sense of responsibility for their actions while providing a beneficial service to the community. In addition, HERP allows the Court and court officials an opportunity to address non-compliant behaviors in a less restrictive or less severe manner.

Unique/Innovative Aspects

HERP provides an opportunity for first-time traffic offenders, as well as other juvenile offenders engaged in risky behaviors, to provide community service to area emergency rooms.  In return, the participants are exposed to a cause and effect model of their non-compliant behavior, allowing them to recognize the effects of such behavior to others within the community. 

Program Operations

Participants are assigned to emergency rooms at Sentara Careplex in Hampton and/or Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News.