PLATTE COUNTY, Mo. — An initiative in Platte County is finding ways to keep some first-time offenders on a positive path and keep them out of jail.
The United States currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
Kansas and Missouri's rates are higher than the US average, which sits at 664 inmates per 100-thousand people.
"Don't get me wrong, violent offenders, sexual offenders, those are the people we build prisons for," Eric Zahnd, Platte County Prosecuting Attorney, said. "But non-violent, first-time offenders, we've got to come up with a different solution."
Zahnd believes Platte County has found that solution.
It's called Platte CARES, and it's a diversion program meant for those non-violent, first-time offenders.
Frashonda Grayson is the program's most recent success story.
She was caught shoplifting in 2018, but beyond that one moment her record was clean.
Zahnd said he hoped to keep it that way.
"One mistake shouldn't define your life," Zahnd said. "Frashonda made a mistake, but she is a wonderful young woman who I am confident can go do great things in life and that's my great hope for her."
Grayson became the 100th graduate of the program.
"It challenged me to change my perspective on my own mindset," Grayson said. "And when you know better, you do better."
She's a good example of how it works. She had to pay back everything she took, she had to take a class on the impact of her actions and she had to do 30 hours of community service.
"A fresh start, new beginnings —a second chance at life," Grayson said. "A second chance to think about how I go about things, how I interact with people, how I present myself."
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