Denver District Attorney Beth McCann has announced the creation of a separate juvenile prosecutions unit within the district attorney’s office.

Effective Wednesday, March 1, the Juvenile and Drug Courts Unit will be reorganized to establish a separate juvenile unit, led by its own chief deputy and specially selected deputies. The drug court unit will continue to operate separately within the office to screen, file and prosecute cases that involve drug activity. That unit works closely with Denver Drug Court.

“Juvenile court has in the past been considered a transition assignment between Denver county and district courts within the office,” McCann said in a news release. “As a candidate, and now as Denver’s district attorney, one of my main priorities is to improve the juvenile justice system, promoting the expanded use of restorative justice and alternatives to jail for young people so one mistake doesn’t ruin a kid’s life. Establishing this separate unit emphasizes this focus on juvenile justice.”

McCann said in an email to The Colorado Statesman that the creation of the new unit is being done within the DA office’s current budget.

“We are moving some folks into the unit who are already in the office and making some moves to fill their spots,” she wrote. “These changes will not affect our overall budget for this year.”

McCann noted the new juvenile unit will complement and further promote the Denver DA’s juvenile diversion program, an intervention program that works with first time juvenile offenders to divert them from the criminal justice system. McCann is planning to expand the juvenile diversion program to include 18- to 26-year-olds in the program and the possibility of diversion before charges are filed.

McCann appointed Deputy District Attorney Courtney Johnston to be the new chief deputy of the juvenile unit for at least five years. Johnston brings many years of courtroom experience in the DA’s office to the position, McCann said, including several years in the Family Violence Unit, as well as several years of work with adolescents as a teacher in Teach for America in Mississippi, as a social services specialist in a large foster care system in Atlanta, Ga., and as a treatment leader in a Denver system of residential treatment centers serving teenagers.

Deputies assigned to the juvenile unit will serve there for three years longer than in the past, and will include lawyers who specifically want to work in the juvenile system and are oriented toward rehabilitation and intervention, to try to prevent future criminal behavior, McCann added. Deputies will also be willing to become familiar with the many juvenile justice service providers in the area.

The juvenile unit will continue to prosecute cases in Denver Juvenile Court involving juveniles between the ages of 10 and 18.