HOPE FOR YOUNG DRUG OFFENDERS

A youthful descent into drug use and trafficking often becomes a fast track
toward a life of adult crime. The Charleston County Juvenile Drug Court is
wisely trying to redirect that path for young people. And Family Court
Judge Charlie Segars-Andrews, who oversees the juvenile drug court, is
convinced that because of this creative corrective effort, "We've seen some
lives changed." The judge was referring to her drug court's decision to
give some juvenile offenders an alternative to serving time in a juvenile
detention facility. Some are being giving the opportunity, as a condition
of their probation, to attend church counseling sessions, including Bible
study classes, that can help them change their self-destructive ways.

As Dave Munday reported in Tuesday's Post and Courier, Judge Segars-Andrews
began this practice last year at the suggestion of the Rev. Alan
Kilpatrick, a pastor at her church (St. Andrew's Episcopal) -- and a
recovering alcoholic.

The church's "Camp Hope," like the juvenile drug court itself, is designed
to give kids who get mixed up with drugs a viable exit from that familiar
path to more serious crimes and prison time.

Judge Segars-Andrews and Family Court Judge Jocelyn Cate, who each oversee
50 children while volunteering as drug court judges, are working hard to
break a sad cycle in Charleston County with an idea that answers President
Bush's call for faith-based initiatives to help solve some of society's
most difficult problems. Trey Walker, spokesman for S.C. Attorney General
Henry McMaster, pointed out that his boss "supports alternative sentencing
for youthful and first-time offenders, and any time you can get the church
or other faith-based or civic organizations involved, only good things can
happen."

Predictable objections from Americans United for Separation of Church and
State and other critics of faith-based initiatives shouldn't hinder the
positive results they can produce. If a church can provide a service that
has the potential of rescuing kids from the low road that leads to drugs,
crime and misery, those directly involved, and the community as a whole,
are the lucky beneficiaries.