'YOUTH TREATMENT COURT'

Judge Morey's Righteous Anger

In 1998, North Carolina overhauled an antiquated juvenile justice code that
was ill equipped to handle chronic and violent juvenile offenders. While
the legislation stiffened penalties for violent offenders and sped up
timing of court procedures for juveniles facing charges, it also stressed
prevention and early intervention, with more dollars for local programs
designed to reform juveniles just starting to stray.

At the time, Marcia Morey, who headed the commission that helped rewrite
the juvenile code, praised it as a balanced approach to the problem of
juvenile crime. No wonder Morey, now a Durham District Court judge, is
particularly galled at the obstacles facing Durham's "youth treatment
court" that she presides over.

Durham County opened the special court, the first in the state, 14 months
ago. It is supposed to help juveniles who get into trouble overcome drug
problems and steer them away from crime. But Judge Morey says the court is
not living up to its potential. She puts the blame on bureaucratic bungling
and the inability of different agencies to work together.

To back her claims, Morey cited an extensive laundry list of mismanaged
cases to Herald-Sun court reporter John Stevenson. In one example, Morey
ordered psychological evaluations for a boy during his probation period.
The evaluations never took place. Meanwhile, his probation period ended,
and the court could take no further steps to get him help.

In another case, the Durham County Department of Social Services appealed
three of her decisions to send juveniles to drug treatment programs in
other counties - this in spite of the lack of available local treatment.
Social Services, according to Morey, maintains that a judge should not have
made the decision. The appeals are pending.

Morey threatened to hold the county's mental-health director and three
other officials in contempt of court for allegedly dragging their feet in
the case of a 15-year-old sex offender who needed treatment. Morey never
made good on her threat, but she criticized the officials for their lack of
accountability in the matter.

Before North Carolina revised the juvenile code, judges, prosecutors and
other public officials who work with youth constantly complained that the
courts lacked the means to instill in first-time offenders an immediate
sense of the consequences of their actions. We also know that Durham does
not suffer from a lack of will to tackle this problem:Durham has numerous
public and nonprofit organizations that have been established to help
youth. The problem, we have been told, is a lack of coordination.

Judge Morey is not content to complain about the problems facing youth
treatment court. To promote better communication and cooperation among the
agencies involved in the court, Morey has written an agreement pledging
cooperation from various agencies. Morey hopes all parties will sign it.

They should sign, and then go one step further and make the agreement work.
When North Carolina realized its juvenile code needed revamping, Durham led
the way. We also ought to be leading the way in the implementation of those
reforms, not fighting the same bureaucratic turf battles that impeded
progress in the past.