Pubdate: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 1999 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: P.O. Box 25125, Oklahoma City, OK 73125 Feedback: http://www.oklahoman.com/?ed-writeus Website: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Forum: http://www.oklahoman.com/forums/ Author: Carrie Pagley, Staff Writer EDMOND JUVENILE SYSTEM MODELED EDMOND -- Judge Alan Synar only sees juveniles charged with marijuana possession for a total of 18 minutes through three different court appearances. But that's just one portion of the long judicial process for a juvenile caught with the illegal drug. With 138 juveniles arrested in Edmond for marijuana possession in the last three years and 82 arrested for possession or sale of drug paraphernalia, police and juvenile court officials are kept busy. Picked up ... Most juvenile marijuana arrests are made through routine contact with juveniles, said Sgt. Matt Griffin. Not from anonymous calls, suspicious-sounding tips or parents reporting their own kids -- but from kids being kids and getting themselves noticed by police officers. Sometimes officers just see the marijuana lying in plain sight in a car on a routine traffic stop, Griffin said. Then the process begins. Like adults, juveniles are brought into the station and processed through the system. Handcuffed, fingerprinted and placed in a small, brightly-lit white room, juveniles must wait until their parents can come pick them up, Griffin said. When a parent or family member arrives, the adults must sign a citation requiring them to show up in court with the juvenile offender, he said. Day in court There are no fines, but there is a drug test. And the total process takes more than six months. "The purpose of juvenile justice -- we don't use the word punishment. We try to rehabilitate," said Synar, Edmond's juvenile court judge. "We don't want to get into Little Johnny or Suzie's parents coming to the counter and paying $220." Instead, Little Johnny or Suzie put time and effort into counseling. At the initial hearing -- the first court date -- the juvenile may enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. The initial hearing compares to an adult arraignment. Any juvenile who goes through juvenile court for any offense is drug tested, Synar said. Results from the rapid drug test, which takes about three minutes, along with a counseling assessment from Edmond Family Services, a list of goals, and their most recent school grades are what each juvenile has to show up with at their disposition, Synar said. The disposition would compare with adult sentencing, he said. At that point, Synar can sentence the juvenile to counseling, the First Time Offenders Program, Code 3 or other types of drug and alcohol awareness programs -- or all of them. Code 3 is a nine-week diversion program that juveniles participate in. They may also participate in other types of counseling at the same time. Juveniles also face 8 and 9 p.m. curfews, random drug tests and weekly check-ins with the court clerk's office, he said. After six months, the juvenile faces his or her final court date, Synar said. Edmond developed a counseling-heavy program because the need for affordable drug counseling is great, Synar said. "Understand what society has out there: There's no drug program that doesn't cost an arm and a leg," he said. Parents are not required to pay anything for the counseling and education both they and their children participate in as part of the court's sentencing, he said. Together -- every step of the way The parents are along every step of the way ... That's a compliment, and I guess, a complaint we get," said John Goetz, a licensed professional counselor at Edmond Family Services, 7 N Broadway. Family services takes care of individual, family, and drug and alcohol counseling, as well as the First Time Offenders Program and Code 3 for the court. Counselors are continually providing assessments and feedback on the individual that may be used to determine what their sentence should be and if it has been successful. Although parents are involved throughout the process, sometimes parents and juveniles are separated for counseling. The separate counseling may increase how much the juvenile will talk about his problems, Goetz said. Parents who want to be proactive in combating drugs in their children's lives just need to stay involved, communicate, he said. "Our children are kind of like savings accounts, or retirement accounts. When they're young the more we pour into them -- talk to them, read to them, give them baths, throw the ball with them. The more we put into them when they're little, that will compound like interest, and we can start making withdrawals when they're teen-agers," he said. "When we tell our kids marijuana is bad for you, how do we know they'll believe us unless we've built that trust with them by making deposits when they're young." In the end After the successful completion of one of the programs, a juvenile will receive a six-month probated sentence and the offense will not go on their record. If they tested positive during random drug testing, did not complete the required counseling and education or failed to participate in required check-ins, the violation will go on their record, Synar said. Edmond's juvenile justice program, designed by Synar who had never tried a juvenile case, has been named as a model for juvenile justice systems nationwide, Synar said. The computer records system city staff developed is also one of the best in the country, he said. And the numbers show the success. The juvenile justice program for all crimes has a 4 percent recidivism rate in the nearly five years it's been in operation. And that's lower than the national average of 25 percent, Synar said, although Edmond's numbers reflect misdemeanors and the national average reflects misdemeanors and felonies. "If you're going to get them into treatment, don't build them any obstacles," is his theory on the program. "Juvenile justice is important. If these kids learn a trade -- crime -- it will cost us a ton in the future." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake