TEENS LEARN DRUG-FREE LIFE

It's 4 p.m. Tuesday, and that means Juvenile Drug Court is under way at
Blount County Juvenile Court. On this day, teens with drug or alcohol
problems appear in front of Blount County Juvenile Court Judge Terry Denton.

This is the first federally funded juvenile drug court in East Tennessee.
Here, teens are placed on probation instead of incarcerated. In exchange
for freedom, they have to attend counseling, pass drug screens and report
to a probation officer.

During the session, the teens' parents sit at the back of the courtroom
with the 10 members of the juvenile drug court team. The team is comprised
of counselors, a Blount County Schools representative, a defense attorney
and a prosecutor.

On this day, several teens appear. In one case, a girl tells the judge
about her week, and he brags on her for making it to counseling sessions on
time.

Another teen held in detention isn't smiling when he is brought to face the
judge. Denton questions him about negative comments the boy made earlier in
the week. Denton gives the juvenile another week in detention to consider
his "life plan."

Before each court session, the judge meets with program staff to help him
decide on incentives or sanctions for each "client," as the young offenders
are referred to by administrators.

Incentives involve relaxing restrictions. Sanctions range from verbal
chastisement to spending time in "lock up."

"I try to establish a rapport with the kids, and we'll talk about things
that interest them," Denton said.

Going home

He spoke with one girl who behaved well during the previous week in custody
at the juvenile detention facility.

"How would you like to go home?" the judge asked her.

"I would love it," she replied.

The judge told the girl to leave with her parents and to return with them
at the next juvenile drug court hearing.

"We're more oriented to a therapeutic standpoint than a punitive
standpoint," he said.

One boy before the judge had been sneaking out of his parents' home at
night while on the program. Denton ordered him into custody at the Juvenile
Detention Facility and said he would make a decision on keeping him there
longer before the next hearing.

"I don't control that, the individual who controls that is you," he said,
speaking to the boy. "We want to help you. We can't do it on our own."

The juvenile drug court program is funded by a $450,000 federal grant that
came in the spring of 2002, said Blount County Juvenile Court Director
Steve Hammonds. The Maryville, Alcoa and Blount County governments
contributed matching funds of about $30,000 each.

"A lot of clients in the adult program have said, if they had it available
in the juvenile system, they would have had access to this a lot sooner and
maybe gotten themselves turned around," Hammonds said.

Two tracks

There are two tracks to the juvenile drug court.

* Track one is for those with a narcotics or alcohol charge or issue.
They're already on probation through the juvenile court, and they are seen
on a minimal basis by drug court -- mainly just for drug screening,
Hammonds said.

Juvenile court works with track one participants mainly for screening and
to check in with them on curfews or counseling.

* Track two is "full blown" drug court.

"If they are already on probation, they're discharged and put on probation
through drug court. Then they're in the program for a minimum of a year,"
Hammonds said. "They have to have four contacts a week with probation officer."

The track two participants have two to three drug screenings a week. They
also have group counseling or family counseling through Helen Ross McNabb
Regional Mental Health System.

"They have to come to court every Tuesday at 4 o'clock to go before the
judge to report either their progress or pitfalls from the previous week,"
Hammonds said.

Pitfalls typically involve participants simply failing to manage their
daily routines.

"Often it is either not being home for curfew or being late or missing
appointments or not being on time for group. It's not been positive drug
screens. They're getting that taken care of, it's the little things," he said.

"That's basically them being irresponsible," Hammonds said. "That's what
we're trying to do -- make them responsible for themselves."