DRUG COURTS TO HELP YOUTHS

Lancaster, York Efforts Aim At Treating Nonviolent Offenders To Keep Them
Out Of Jail

LANCASTER - Next month, Lancaster and York counties will each launch new
juvenile drug court programs aimed at keeping nonviolent young offenders
out of jail and treating their addictions early.

Juvenile drug courts work with youths up to 16 years old who've been
arrested on drug charges and provide them and their families with treatment
and counseling. To participate in the yearlong programs, drug offenders
must plead guilty as charged and agree to the program's rules. After
treatment and successful completion of the program, a judge can dismiss the
charges.

Currently, many young offenders arrested on drug charges are sent to
juvenile detention centers and some end up cycling in and out of the
centers without ever receiving treatment. Supporters say the drug courts
are a better alternative because they treat the source of the problem.

"Historically, you go to jail and you don't treat the addiction," said Jan
Gillespie, programs manager for the York County solicitor's office. "If you
treat the addiction, you potentially have a good member of society."

York and Lancaster counties' drug courts were established with three-year
grants from the U.S. Department of Justice and are aimed at stopping drug
addiction and lowering crime. Lancaster's $479,000 grant is being
administered by the county. The solicitor's office will run York County's
drug court with its $337,500 grant.

Now that agencies like the Justice Department are providing funds for the
programs, more counties are using drug courts as an alternative to the
traditional system, said Caroline Cooper, director of the Justice
Department's Drug Court Clearinghouse.

Lancaster and York counties are two of this year's 94 drug court grant
recipients nationwide. Cooper said there are 245 juvenile drug courts in
the country and another 129 planned. South Carolina has four up and running
and five in the planning stages.

The juvenile program will be York County's second drug court. The county
started an adult drug court in October 2001 that currently has 40 participants.

Gillespie said the juvenile program has four potential participants and is
set up to handle a total of 30.

Jerome Maxie thinks he can save some of the nearly 600 youths who come
through Lancaster's juvenile court system on drug charges every year. He's
director of the county's new juvenile drug court and hopes the program's
focus on family, discipline and education can keep young offenders out of
the adult system. Lancaster County's program is funded for 50 participants.

Because the drug courts take only nonviolent offenders and require the
juvenile's consent, many of the youth brought in are not eligible for the
program. Officials say treatment costs also make handling a larger group
almost impossible.

Maxie has picked the program's first potential candidate: a 16-year-old
charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The
teenager, two weeks shy of his 17th birthday, just meets the cutoff age.
Like the future participants, he will undergo mandatory treatment, regular
drug testing and intense supervision.

"They'll see me every day," Maxie said. "When they look like they're going
to stumble, we're right there."

Because most of the youth who go through the juvenile justice system are
either not in school or performing poorly, Maxie said, education is one of
the program's main focuses.

The former U.S. Army commander said he'll check with teachers and guardians
to make sure the youth are on track. As offenders go through the program,
they are gradually given more freedom and are rewarded for performing well.
There are also punishments in place, the most severe being dismissal from
the program.

Gillespie said she is passionate about drug courts and thinks the life
skills, education opportunities and treatments do more than cure a drug
problem.

"With juveniles, drugs are a sign that something else is going on,"
Gillespie said. "It's not just the drugs we're treating, it's all of the
problems and the difficulties in their lives."