Pubdate: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2000 The Sydney Morning Herald Contact: GPO Box 3771, Sydney NSW 2001 Fax: +61-(0)2-9282 3492 Website: http://www.smh.com.au/ Forum: http://forums.fairfax.com.au/ Author: Cynthia Banham FIRST DAY OF A COURT AND A YOUNG LIFE WITH HOPE It was a long walk to court for the heroin user, 17 years old and seven months' pregnant. Trains don't run to the far-flung south-western suburb where she lives, and the girl had no money for a bus. With younger siblings to get ready for school, she eventually arrived, three hours late, for the first day of the State's new Youth Drug Court, which sat yesterday at Campbelltown Children's Court. The magistrate, Ms Bev Schurr, was relieved: the girl's case was only the second to go before the court, and she didn't want to see her slip away. A heroin user, now on methadone, the teenager had been convicted of shoplifting to support her drug habit. The police prosecutor, Mr Martin Killen, told the court she had mostly stolen toothpaste, which was then sold to discount shops for small amounts of cash. With elder siblings on adult Drug Court programs - the adult court began operating last year - the girl had decided to try the youth drug court program for the sake of her unborn child. The Youth Drug Court comes out of recommendations from the NSW 1999 Drug Summit. It is a two-year pilot that will take on 120 children a year. When the teenager eventually made her way into the courtroom, she sat before the magistrate, her thin body nervously bouncing on her seat. "There is a definite connection between her offences and her drug taking," said her legal aid solicitor, Ms Kerry Graham. She also told the court that her client, more than half way through her pregnancy, had chosen to ask to go on the Youth Drug Court program based primarily on the level of support she will receive from the court. The magistrate agreed. "Yes, particularly given the lack of facilities for [women with] children if they're incarcerated," she said. And so the girl was given new bail conditions, and ordered to attend a drug assessment. Ms Schurr said the youth court was about giving young drug users assisted rehabilitation, rather than leaving them to their own devices. Young mothers with drug problems were a particular target group for the court, she said. "This program is also emphasising extending services to young women, to give them that extra help they need. There are not quite as many ... facilities now for young women as there should be. Also to help them to avoid becoming drug-addicted mothers with children who get taken away from them." Staffed by four magistrates, the Youth Drug Court operates out of the Cobham Children's Court each Monday, and Campbelltown Children's Court each Thursday. The idea is to divert from custody 14- to 18-year-olds who commit crimes - excluding homicide, sex offences and some armed robberies - to support their habit. Instead, the magistrates identify them as potential candidates for the program when they first appear at a children's court. They are then referred to the Youth Drug Court, where another magistrate decides if they are eligible. If the answer is yes, the teenagers are assessed over two weeks to see if they are suitable for rehabilitation. If the assessment is successful, they are granted bail, and spend the next six months in intensive therapy and counselling sessions, with workers from the departments of Juvenile Justice, Community Services, Health and Education and Training. If at the end of their program they are successful, their sentence is suspended. Mr Killen, the police prosecutor, said the court was the State's first substantive attempt at tackling the drug crime cycle. "In the past it's been Band-Aid measures applied in trying to address drug crime problems, and this is the first time they're addressing the real issue, which is getting to the source of the problem - of heroin addiction - which doesn't just involve physical addiction but the whole package, the psychological factors." - --- MAP posted-by: John Chase