You’ve no doubt heard plenty in the last couple months about how Derrek Blackwell, now-former Galesburg High School Football Coach and GHS security officer, entered into a “diversion program” not long after his arrest in April on domestic violence charges. If successful, that means the case will be dismissed and won’t be on Blackwell’s record any longer.
In just their third year, the Knox County State’s Attorney’s Office’s diversion and deferred prosecution are being termed success — not just because of low crime recidivism rates, but also of how they’ve turned lives around.
Taylor Davis, one of the students who successfully completed the Gale Scholars program, is now in charge of the programs for the office. He talks about the programs with Will Stevenson on WGIL’s Galesburg In Focus.