Pubdate: Sun, 26 Oct 2003
Source: Daily Times, The (TN)
Copyright: 2003 Horvitz Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.thedailytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1455
Author: Lance Coleman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

TEENS LEARN DRUG-FREE LIFE

It's 4 p.m. Tuesday, and that means Juvenile Drug Court is under way at 
Blount County Juvenile Court. On this day, teens with drug or alcohol 
problems appear in front of Blount County Juvenile Court Judge Terry Denton.

This is the first federally funded juvenile drug court in East Tennessee. 
Here, teens are placed on probation instead of incarcerated. In exchange 
for freedom, they have to attend counseling, pass drug screens and report 
to a probation officer.

During the session, the teens' parents sit at the back of the courtroom 
with the 10 members of the juvenile drug court team. The team is comprised 
of counselors, a Blount County Schools representative, a defense attorney 
and a prosecutor.

On this day, several teens appear. In one case, a girl tells the judge 
about her week, and he brags on her for making it to counseling sessions on 
time.

Another teen held in detention isn't smiling when he is brought to face the 
judge. Denton questions him about negative comments the boy made earlier in 
the week. Denton gives the juvenile another week in detention to consider 
his "life plan."

Before each court session, the judge meets with program staff to help him 
decide on incentives or sanctions for each "client," as the young offenders 
are referred to by administrators.

Incentives involve relaxing restrictions. Sanctions range from verbal 
chastisement to spending time in "lock up."

"I try to establish a rapport with the kids, and we'll talk about things 
that interest them," Denton said.

Going home

He spoke with one girl who behaved well during the previous week in custody 
at the juvenile detention facility.

"How would you like to go home?" the judge asked her.

"I would love it," she replied.

The judge told the girl to leave with her parents and to return with them 
at the next juvenile drug court hearing.

"We're more oriented to a therapeutic standpoint than a punitive 
standpoint," he said.

One boy before the judge had been sneaking out of his parents' home at 
night while on the program. Denton ordered him into custody at the Juvenile 
Detention Facility and said he would make a decision on keeping him there 
longer before the next hearing.

"I don't control that, the individual who controls that is you," he said, 
speaking to the boy. "We want to help you. We can't do it on our own."

The juvenile drug court program is funded by a $450,000 federal grant that 
came in the spring of 2002, said Blount County Juvenile Court Director 
Steve Hammonds. The Maryville, Alcoa and Blount County governments 
contributed matching funds of about $30,000 each.

"A lot of clients in the adult program have said, if they had it available 
in the juvenile system, they would have had access to this a lot sooner and 
maybe gotten themselves turned around," Hammonds said.

Two tracks

There are two tracks to the juvenile drug court.

* Track one is for those with a narcotics or alcohol charge or issue. 
They're already on probation through the juvenile court, and they are seen 
on a minimal basis by drug court -- mainly just for drug screening, 
Hammonds said.

Juvenile court works with track one participants mainly for screening and 
to check in with them on curfews or counseling.

* Track two is "full blown" drug court.

"If they are already on probation, they're discharged and put on probation 
through drug court. Then they're in the program for a minimum of a year," 
Hammonds said. "They have to have four contacts a week with probation officer."

The track two participants have two to three drug screenings a week. They 
also have group counseling or family counseling through Helen Ross McNabb 
Regional Mental Health System.

"They have to come to court every Tuesday at 4 o'clock to go before the 
judge to report either their progress or pitfalls from the previous week," 
Hammonds said.

Pitfalls typically involve participants simply failing to manage their 
daily routines.

"Often it is either not being home for curfew or being late or missing 
appointments or not being on time for group. It's not been positive drug 
screens. They're getting that taken care of, it's the little things," he said.

"That's basically them being irresponsible," Hammonds said. "That's what 
we're trying to do -- make them responsible for themselves."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom