JUVENILE DRUG COURT SET TO OPEN THIS FALL

Davidson County Juvenile Court is taking steps toward creating a drug court
that will keep close tabs on young first offenders and, officials hope,
break the cycle of drugs and crime.

The goal is for a pilot program to start in mid-September to early October,
Juvenile Court Judge Betty Adams Green said last week. In its first phase,
15 to 30 teen-agers will be selected for the program, which will combine
treatment with strict probation requirements and weekly checks by a referee.

Drugs or alcohol affect about 80% of youths who come through Juvenile Court
on delinquency charges, Referee Mike O'Neil estimated. Some teens are
addicted, some make poor decisions while under the influence of a one-time
binge, and still others get in trouble reacting to their parents' drug and
alcohol problems.

On Friday, Juvenile Court officials met with Davidson County Criminal Court
Judge Seth Norman, who oversees the adult drug court.

The adult drug court, started in 1997, offers residential and other
treatment at a $3 million facility near Bordeaux Hospital. Participants
must complete the program as a condition of being placed in the community
corrections program, a highly structured form of probation. If they violate
the rules, they must serve all or part of their original sentence.

The first phase of Juvenile Court's drug court program will use current
Juvenile Court facilities and employees, Green said. One referee, not yet
chosen, will be assigned to the program and will check participants'
progress regularly and frequently.

Participants will be selected carefully. Only youths accused of
misdemeanors will be eligible, Green said. "We don't want to put the
community at risk."

Plans are for the drug court to be one referee's full caseload, and
eventually for it to operate from its own facility, as the adult drug court
does, Green said.

"We have kids that are not going to make it if we don't" start a drug
court, she said. "I think the goal of Juvenile Court is to assist the
families and children who are going to be the next generation of Nashville.
... They can be citizens that contribute to the community or citizens that
drain the commun-ity."