Pubdate: Mon, 18 Dec 2000
Source: Virginian-Pilot (VA)
Copyright: 2000, The Virginian-Pilot
Contact:  150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Virginia 23510
Website: http://www.pilotonline.com
Forum: http://www.pilotonline.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Amy Jeter

NEW PROGRAM TREATS DRUG ABUSE IN YOUTH OFFENDERS

Children who commit crimes often use drugs or abuse alcohol -- or are close 
to someone who does.

With this in mind, courts in Hampton Roads are focusing more attention on 
substance-abuse treatment for juvenile offenders, using money from a new 
state program.

Since the early 1990s, "kids who go through the juvenile court system, the 
majority have some sort of substance-abuse problem," said Jeffrey Shelton, 
an administrator with the Chesapeake Community Services Board.

"The substance-abuse problems are more severe than six or eight years ago."

A 1999 law now requires courts to look for drug problems in juveniles who 
commit serious crimes.

Nearly a third of 3,600 children screened during the second half of this 
year needed substance-abuse treatment, said Scott Reiner of the state 
Department of Juvenile Justice.

Now, through funding from Gov. Jim Gilmore's Substance Abuse Reduction 
Effort Program, or SABRE, the state's 35 court services units will use 
$1.17 million to ensure that young people in the court system get the 
treatment they need.

Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach will use the money -- about 
$40,000 each -- to create new jobs.

A larger staff will allow them to offer more family therapy and peer 
support groups for children with severe problems, officials said.

Norfolk will use the money to pay state-approved companies to provide 
treatment, said Elizabeth Hiner, substance-abuse specialist with the 
Norfolk Court Services Unit.

"We try to get them the treatment they need to get them to the abstinence 
state," Hiner said.

"It's a real hard disease to treat."

All three cities will track the number of children referred to programs, 
whether they complete the treatment and whether they are rearrested, Reiner 
said.

That recidivism number is important for SABRE, a $25.5 million program 
meant to fight drug-related crime through increased enforcement, treatment 
and prevention.

About $14 million has been set aside to reduce crime by providing drug 
treatment to prior offenders.

Between 1998 and 1999, about 46 percent of young people paroled or released 
from juvenile correctional centers ended up back in the court system, state 
figures show.

Officials haven't set a goal for reducing recidivism among juveniles, 
Reiner said. And they won't decide until next summer how to spend the $2.34 
million earmarked for next year.

But Reiner is convinced that more attention to young offenders with 
substance problems will eventually reduce crime.

"As time goes on and the problem gets worse, kids get further detached from 
the things they need to do to be successful," Reiner said.

"If we can interrupt the cycle of offenses and drug use while someone is a 
juvenile, it has a number of advantages."
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