What do you think about the diversion program?

I am currently rereading Kass' book. After reading the 11k (and finally finishing!!!) I decided to reread some books I had read before to see if I have any new thoughts.

Anyway...When he speaks of the diversion program at one point he states:
"In six years on the job, Kriegshauser (diversion counselor) had supervised maybe five hundred clients, although only ten to fifteen were "exceptional" and allowed to leave the program early. Eric and Dylan were among that group. (Kriegshauser states )'In my opinion, you have to be an exemplar example of taking care of your responsibilities through the court system. You have to try real hard basically'"

That being said I feel Eric did do ok at the program on a surface level. He was honest in his assessment, he did his community service on time, went to his classes and wrote his apology letter (even if it was sarcastic and he didn't mean it)

On the other hand Dylan did not do ok at all. He had to have his counselor give him lectures repeatedly on time management for not getting his c.s. done, he hardly made payments to his account, made fun of the class he was supposed to take and even lied to Kriegshauser about an assessment he was supposed to do. He got bad grades and gave excuses for his behavior.

How the heck did he get out of the diversion program acting this way? Did he get released just because of Eric doing well? Another ball was dropped here I feel.

If anyone wants to read the diversion documents they can be found here.:

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Slipped through the cracks I guess. Must be tied to Eric doing well and released, might aswell put the pack together. Though can't give too much insight as I know zero about how diversion programs work, let alone how the one that the boys were under does. I won't be surprised if these programs get neglectful after awhile, to them this is just another juvenile case.

That's a good question.Dylan did lousy in the program and didn't show a good attitude.
I think he was released for 2 reasons.His co-defendant had done so well and the program knew that Dylan had been accepted to college and didn't want to hinder the start of his college career especially since he supposed to go to school in another state.

One thing is for sure it didn't help Eric and Dylan in anyway probably because they never took it seriously. I thought it was a total joke.

Thanks for linking to that site, what a great collection of general info! I haven't gone through all the diversion documents yet, but from going quickly up to about a third of the way on each: Wow, their answers on their opinions on mental health treatment are so... placid?

Eric: "It's nice, it helps me realize things"

Dylan: "Not necessary, but I will do it if diversion deems it necessary or desirable"

Also, you know how everyone always mentions how Eric checked off "homicidal, suicidal, ect." on that list of problems, but there's SO many more on there checked off I had never heard about. So sad...
He also mentions that the van break in was Dylan's idea, which I had never heard before either.

I think the early release was just one in a long line of oversights in this diversion program. Either there was a lot of incompetency or the kinds of kids the program was used to dealing with were more obviously troubled than E&D. In Sue's book she mentioned that the Diversion counselors said they'd call only if there was a problem, yet she never got a call, even when Dylan was skipping appointments and being an all around snot about the program.

Also it's tragic to see how much of the write-up in the first few pages is based on the boys' assessment of themselves. That assumes an oddly high level of trust. A professional assessment should be a mandatory supplement after handing that in. Sadly I just don't think they considered they might be dealing with manipulators... Slipped through the cracks indeed

I noticed in the mental health section of the form it looks like Dylan is holding a lot in, especially the part where he is meant to check of "problems or difficulty with any of the following". His parents even checked of more about him in that.

Eric, however, checked off a lot in that section and was very honest. Even checking off homicidal thoughts. Eric was probably more honest than Dylan because he had less to hide from his parents due to them already knowing about some of his issues from his therapy.

Or Eric actually wanted to get help. The massacre was his last "fuck you" for people being openly blind to him. His bestie was holding back in his own right, I'm not sure if Eric ever spoken to Dylan about his issues or if he shared it all, but for Eric's case, the neglect of his surroundings may be blamed.
Actually now that I think of it, I have thought of this before, I wonder if E&D ever talked between themselves about their issues. Have they ever consoled one another or something...but that's like asking if gasoline can put fire out.

Pipistrelle wrote:

Thanks for linking to that site, what a great collection of general info! I haven't gone through all the diversion documents yet, but from going quickly up to about a third of the way on each: Wow, their answers on their opinions on mental health treatment are so... placid?

Eric: "It's nice, it helps me realize things"

Dylan: "Not necessary, but I will do it if diversion deems it necessary or desirable"

Also, you know how everyone always mentions how Eric checked off "homicidal, suicidal, ect." on that list of problems, but there's SO many more on there checked off I had never heard about. So sad...
He also mentions that the van break in was Dylan's idea, which I had never heard before either.

I think the early release was just one in a long line of oversights in this diversion program. Either there was a lot of incompetency or the kinds of kids the program was used to dealing with were more obviously troubled than E&D. In Sue's book she mentioned that the Diversion counselors said they'd call only if there was a problem, yet she never got a call, even when Dylan was skipping appointments and being an all around snot about the program.

Also it's tragic to see how much of the write-up in the first few pages is based on the boys' assessment of themselves. That assumes an oddly high level of trust. A professional assessment should be a mandatory supplement after handing that in. Sadly I just don't think they considered they might be dealing with manipulators... Slipped through the cracks indeed

In the doc section on this site, in the 11k thread you can see the testimony from both boys on the Jan incident.  Eric blames Dylan and Dylan states it was a joint decision.

The diversion program it seems to me at least sounded like it was more meant for kids on drugs/in gangs.  There were classes that The original counselor Sanchez signed E&D up for and the new counselor Kreigshauser cancelled because he didn't think they were necessary.  And yea according to Kreigshauser, the program relies on honesty from the kids and parents because according to him "they get more honest answers from the kids themselves".  Obv not all the time I guess.

I would really like to read his deposition.  He sounds like he feels guilty.  Like he let everyone down and it was his fault in some way.  But they did con their  way through.  

Reading further on, Dylan may have even lied about doing community service.  They tried to follow up with the c.s. place but they never got back to them.  which apparently was typical.  Seems this program needs some fixing up

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I think it was you that I discussed this awhile back, on who was the one that initiated the break in, who lied/who saved their ass, and it sort of ties to your reply. I'm not surprised if Dylan feels totally guilty because he knew he initiated the break in and he knew that he chose to put both their names as the blame as opposed to Eric saving his ass first which of course is no surprise. I wonder if it put pressure on Dylan to hold on to his friendship with Eric knowing that Eric would throw anyone under the bus if it meant that it would save himself first. I'm sure they have fought about this incident a few times. And yet they're still loyal to one another.