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."