YOUTH DRUG COURT TO OFFER ALTERNATIVES TO JAIL TERM

Fayette Program To Begin In Late January

Lexington teen-agers whose addictions drive them to commit crimes soon
could have an option other than jail.

The judges of Fayette District Court plan to launch a juvenile drug court
in late January. Like adult drug court, the program will offer youths
intensive supervision, education and drug and alcohol counseling. Graduates
would avoid a 45- to 90-day stint at the juvenile detention center on Cisco
Road, or a longer sentence at a state home or boot camp.

"I'm convinced that if we're successful with helping a youth, we'll have
less cost to society than if he goes on to become an adult felon. That's
not just considering the cost of incarceration, but also the intangible
benefit of having a productive member of society," said Judge David Hayse,
who is leading the effort.

The first class will be small, just 10 offenders with non-violent
backgrounds and a willingness to beat their addictions, Hayse said. The
court, with little funding, will rely at first on volunteers from agencies
such as the Bluegrass Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board, who will
serve as case managers and counselors.

The court will apply next year for drug court grants available from the
U.S. Justice Department, Hayse said.

In a typical drug court, defendants whose addictions result in criminal
convictions can volunteer to participate. If they obey the rules random
urine tests, full-time jobs or schooling, intensive counseling, regular
exercise, even journal writing they avoid prison. If they repeatedly break
the rules, they're out.

Drug courts are growing quickly in most states, but they're not a cure-all.
Fayette Circuit Court's adult drug court has graduated 130 people since it
opened four years ago. But 234 people were kicked out, to face penalties
the judges originally handed down.

There are obvious differences between the two drug courts, Hayse said,
including the weight of the hammer judges can hold over participants' heads.

"If a juvenile is willing to serve 90 days, then there is a limit to what
we can do," Hayse said. "If they don't want to complete the program, then
they won't. Forty-five days on Cisco Road is not like five years in prison."

The juvenile drug court will require at least a weekly court appearance, on
top of several afternoons each week of counseling and group activities,
Hayse said.

Seven Kentucky counties have juvenile drug courts; they report modest
successes. Seven youths have enrolled in Christian District Court's
nine-month-old program, and despite adolescent rebellion, nobody has been
kicked out, said Judge James Adams.

"The very first girl we had in the program, today was her 222nd clean day,"
Adams said. "If there was a drug on the street, she used it. She had been
in my court four or five times. She was out of control, she cussed at
everyone like a sailor. ... Now she has her (General Educational
Development certificate) and she's holding a job."

In Christian County, participants' parents must attend weekly parenting
sessions and join their children in drug education classes, Adams said. In
some cases, parents are either lax in allowing their children to use drugs,
or they're using drugs in front of the children, so they have to change
their own attitudes, he said.

Braxton Crenshaw, a Lexington defense lawyer, has represented teen-age
clients with drug problems. He prefers intervention to incarceration. But
he wonders whether young people will take their addictions seriously enough
to ask for help.

"Typically, young people think they're bulletproof," Crenshaw said. "I
don't know how many kids will be willing to stop using based on a court
intervention. I'm sure some of them will, but I just don't know how many."