As in prevention, diversion programs address those skills and concepts lacking in youth that grow up in an environment of degenerated moral values, low levels of education and a culture of communication by physical force rather than rational thought and words.

The seminars, courses and mentoring basics are made up of the same life skill programs as in prevention, with the addition of drug rehabilitation as needed.

Criminon runs programs in Juvenile Halls and Probation camps. Again, the purpose is to give the youth the life skills they are lacking to make it in the world, stay out of crime and to equip them with the means to resolve conflicts and problems.

The courses offered include Literacy, Communication Skills, Learning Skills for Life Course, The Way to Happiness Course and others.

The following success story is from a participant in the Criminon on-site program in a Los Angeles juvenile facility:

“Before I became a part of Criminon, my life was terrible. All I knew was the street life. My father died when I was at the age of nine. From all the hurt and pain I began to do what the rest of the unfatherly kids wanted to do: that was to join a gang, sell drugs to make money and have a lot of girls to relieve the stress. One day I got locked up for a crime I did not commit. After being incarcerated for five and a half months I met Criminon and began to have an educational relationship with this wonderful program. In a short period of time I began to develop a moral code.

“Now I’m a new man, a changed man, a man who wants to live my life productive and help others who are experiencing what I experienced in my past life. I give Criminon a big, big, big thank you for helping me to change my life and forgetting about the bad things I used to do, and start focusing on the good I can do now.”

“The reason why Criminon is such a wonderful program is because it changed my life, turned me around from a gang-member to a peace-maker. I feel that a lot of people should try out the Criminon program because this is a chance of a lifetime to be a better person that one never thought he or she could be.”

Helping a juvenile get back to school, find a job, stay away from trouble and build a life are crucial components to stopping the escalation of crime.

Criminon’s re-entry programs are done in a community center setting or in cooperation with parole and probation offices.

Depending on whether a participant has already taken courses as part of an on-site program or not, he would start with the first course or continue the program from where he left off.

All on-site Criminon courses are available for re-entry and in addition to these, Criminon partners with the Home Builders Institute, to set up a curriculum of vocational skills.