All last week our Inside and Out series looked at what happens when young people land in Illinois’ youth prisons. But there are also kids who start on a path towards prison they take a peek and decide it’s not for them. Sometimes they have help taking that peek. One place where that can happen is in diversion programs run by Cook County’s Probation Department. Every year these programs take hundreds of kids who’ve been arrested and help them avoid stepping before a judge. We hear the story of a young man who’s re-thinking his future and trying to get away from the negative pulls of his neighborhood. For WBEZ, Linda Paul reports.

One warning, a graphic description of rape is a part of this story.

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