Teamwork key in juvenile-justice system

| Tuesday, November 29, 2005

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Editor's note: This is the second story in a three-part series examining the juvenile-justice system in South Dakota.

By Vicky Wicks, Journal Staff Writer

RAPID CITY -- Professionals who work with children in trouble use a community-based approach to find the least restrictive and most effective treatment of problems as they arise. The goal at every level, these professionals say, is to treat the troubled child's problems in the community.

There's a team approach, an "it takes a village" strategy, that uses ever-increasing levels of communication among the people who work at the agencies that make up "the system." And those in "the system" say the strategy is getting better every year.

School-based services

For nine months of the year, young people spend a great deal of time at school, so juvenile justice professionals take the mountain to Muhammad, so to speak.

One program that puts law officers as liaisons in area schools started in September 1972 with one detective from the Rapid City Police Department and later expanded to include deputies from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.

Police Sgt. Karl Jegeris said having officers in the schools "getting to know the kids, being among them," is a proactive approach. The liaisons can identify at-risk students and refer them to programs without involving prosecutors and the courts, Jegeris said.

One agency available for referrals is Lifeways, a nonprofit counseling program to prevent or intervene in alcohol and drug abuse.

Another program is Truancy Court, giving students who skip school the opportunity to deal with the problem in school rather than going to formal juvenile court.

Elizabeth Eiesland runs the Truancy Court Program out of the Pennington County State's Attorney's Office and assesses each case to determine why the child is not attending school.

"Truancy is basically just a symptom," Eiesland said. The truant student possibly suffers from mental health issues or learning disabilities or perhaps simply needs clothes suitable for school, she said.

Truancy court is voluntary and involves the student, the parent and school staff. A 7th Circuit Court judge - often Eiesland's father, Merton Tice Jr. - presides over proceedings at the school, Eiesland said.

The school also frequently is where students who have gotten into trouble meet their probation officers.

Judd Thompson, chief court services officer for the 7th Circuit, said court services officers go into the schools regularly to meet with students who are supervised.

The court services officers work with administrators, counselors and parents, "like a team approach to parenting," Thompson said.

Communication among adults involved in the child's life ensures that everyone is following the same plan. "The team effort sends kids the same message no matter who they talk to," Thompson said. "We've seen it work; we know it works; and we're expanding."

Informal diversion

Students who meet with probation officers at their school were, at some point, in front of a judge outside the school.

But not all juveniles who are arrested land in court.

The Juvenile Diversion Program, run by Dexter Whitman through the State's Attorney's Office, offers an informal alternative to court. In the diversion program, certain juvenile offenders can be evaluated and take steps for rehabilitation for as long as 90 days without seeing the inside of a courtroom.

The school-based Truancy Court is part of the diversion program, and so is Teen Court, a court run by teens who act as attorneys and jurors and fashion sentences for offenders who have little or no criminal history.

Whitman said juvenile clients come to his attention through police reports and referrals from the community or deputy state's attorneys. When reports come in, Michele Brink-Gluhosky first "cherry-picks the pile" to choose cases for Teen Court, and the rest of the pile belongs to him, Whitman said.

If the juvenile's offense was minor, Whitman sends out a questionnaire to determine the child's needs. But if the offense was serious - for instance, violence between a boyfriend and girlfriend - Whitman quickly makes contact.

When Whitman accepts a child for juvenile diversion, he drafts a "custom plan" to rectify the specific harm done by the offender's actions and address whatever circumstances led to criminal behavior. Community service, payment of victims' bills, apologies, mediation, and treatment for chemical abuse are all possible solutions, Whitman said.

"You can't undo the fight," he said, "but you might prevent the next one."

Whitman involves clients in his program with the community. On Oct. 8, diversion clients cleaned up Rapid Creek above the fish hatchery for Black Hills Fly Fishers, and in exchange, the kids were allowed to go to a fly-fishing seminar at the YMCA Science Center. The Y offers scholarships to the juveniles, and giving donations assists the Y in getting grants, Whitman said.

Formal diversion

But even when juveniles end up in court, not only are steps taken to address the child's problems, but the intensity is increased.

Roxie Boettcher, a Pennington County deputy state's attorney who deals with juveniles, said children are taken to formal court if they are already on probation, if there's a large amount of money to be paid to victims, or if they are obviously out of control.

If the juvenile has "had multiple chances ... and nothing has worked, at that point, I'm going to send them to court," she said.

When juveniles head to court, the team effort continues. Boettcher and Mike Schad, the other juvenile attorney for the county, meet with professionals from other agencies to "look at a different plan than hauling a kid" to detention, she said.

Juveniles who are arrested are going through the system faster now, Boettcher said. In the past, a court date would be set a few weeks after arrest, and the child could be arrested two or three more times before seeing a judge.

Now, juveniles are in front of a judge within days of an arrest and are set up with court services immediately after court.

"If we're going to hold a child accountable ... it's best to do it right away," Boettcher said.

The number of juveniles passing through the juvenile-justice system is down this year, but in a normal year, the State's Attorney's Office deals with between 1,200 and 1,600, Boettcher said.

Offenders from outside Pennington County are returned to their home jurisdiction, and those under supervision of the Department of Corrections are returned there, she said.

Juveniles who have gone to court in 2005 met 7th Circuit Judge A.P. "Pete" Fuller. Judges take juvenile court on a one-year rotation; Judge Janine Kern is next up, and Fuller will move to hear abuse and neglect cases starting in January.

Fuller credits professional teams, who meet in various combinations to target various needs, for improving services to juveniles in trouble. The agencies within the legal system - state's attorneys, juvenile detention, court services - work with services outside the legal system, such as Department of Social Services, to identify "families' chronic problem areas," Fuller said.

With assistance from the teams, Fuller and Judge Jack Delaney, who currently handles abuse and neglect cases, get a full-spectrum view of troubled families.

"'Staffing the file' is our buzzword," Fuller said.

Fuller said he relies on people with years of education and experience, "not only in particular areas, but also with particular families," to give him information to better make decisions.

When Fuller deals with juvenile-delinquency cases, he has options, but in general, they are to put juveniles on local probation or send them to DOC. With the probation option, Fuller maintains control over juveniles and can tailor dispositions to fit particular needs.

On probation, juveniles are overseen by one of the court services officers in Thompson's office, who might drop in and meet with the child at school. The probation officer enforces conditions that the judge imposed, which could include payment of restitution, completion of community service hours, payment of fines, time in the Juvenile Services Center or attendance at special programs.

If Fuller sends juveniles to DOC, he essentially hands them over to the state.

"I don't feel that I send a child to 'jail' when I send them to DOC," Fuller said, "but parents and children think differently."

Although going to DOC is "emotionally devastating" for the child, state corrections "is the next agency with funds" to help juveniles, Fuller said. "DOC has money for programs. The court system doesn't."

During the two years Jegeris has been working with juveniles, he has noticed positive changes, primarily in cooperation and communication among people who work in the juvenile system. "All these different entities are like spokes in a wheel," he said, and in his opinion, all the spokes are there.

"Although there's room for improvement, overall, it's working great right now," Jegeris said.

Next: Juvenile confinement in South Dakota

Contact Wicks at 394-8318 or at vicky.wicks@rapidcityjournal.com