Attorneys head into schools to help teens

Two prosecutors from the State Attorney's Office work in 16 middle schools in a program aimed at solving delinquency problems at an early stage.

By CHRISTINE GRAEF

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

Two prosecutors have left the courtroom to spend their days in 16 of the county's 23 middle schools.

Their new roles in the State Attorney Safe Schools, or SASS, program are expected to reduce the number of school-related incidents referred to the juvenile justice system.

"Our calendars have too many school cases. This way, attorneys have the opportunity to deal directly with the child and parent and connect them to services without using the courts," said Vance Arnett, director of community programs in the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office.

SASS is a three-year pilot program aimed at diverting middle school offenders who would otherwise face full court involvement. Three components -- Truancy Abatement, Better Choices and First Stop -- are being integrated into the years students are most vulnerable to violence, drugs, gang activity, property crime and truancy. The program is funded with a $164,578 Juvenile Welfare Board grant toward the $276,545 start-up cost. Each of the next two years is estimated to cost $155,000.

"While I do not believe that Pinellas County has dangerous schools, it is my belief that we need to do all we can to ensure that our children learn and are held accountable to non-violent behavior," State Attorney Bernie McCabe told the Juvenile Welfare Board last summer.

The Truancy Abatement program will expand the existing elementary school truancy intervention, which has been in place for two years and calls for prosecution of the parents whose children are constantly absent. The program will continue to hold parents responsible for students' attendance but will add a new truancy court conference that requires students and families to attend counseling provided through funds from the Department of Juvenile Justice.

"We identify the problem right up front and find out whether the child is really sick, or what the parent needs to do to make sure he is in school," said Barbara Jacobs, assistant state attorney and director of SASS.

In addition to truancy, each week during the school year about 30 to 50 incidents ranging from disruptive behavior to felony battery on a School Board employee are referred to the State Attorney's Office. Court sanctions were applied in very few cases, using court resources and delivering consequences late in the process.

Better Choices has been implemented as an intervention tool and allows SASS attorneys to sort out students in need of court referrals.

Better Choices went into the schools full force in January with assistant state attorneys Caryle Johnson and Cheryl Smith-Khan, both experienced prosecutors.

In southern Pinellas County, the program is in place at Azalea, Bay Point, John Hopkins, Lealman, Madeira Beach, Meadowlawn, Pinellas Park, Riviera and Tyrone middle schools.

The attorneys spend about half the school day in each of their assigned schools working with the school administration to target troubled youths among the 25,000 students. Students involved with bullying, fighting and disruptive behavior are monitored closely and referred to services within a week of an incident.

One resource used for both parents and students is a five-hour training session in non-violence and risk factors. The class is scheduled over two weeknights at St. Petersburg Junior College, an environment Arnett said has "no negative associations and is a place students can aspire to be." Parents are required to attend one night.

"We're now taking a better focus on the relationship between the student and school and looking at other factors that may influence a child's behavior, " said Jacobs.

Rather than following the prescribed solution of assigning a punishment such as community service, SASS attorneys link parents with the resources their children need, ranging from grief counseling to anger management.

"Too many times the courts tell parents to do something about their child. Too often the parent does not know where to turn. It's overwhelming. They're dealing with other problems such as unemployment, alcoholism in the family, divorce or abuse," said Jacobs.

SASS attorneys will each spend one school year in the program. Jacobs said they are selected on the basis of their ability to deal well with children. Since the program began, attorneys have begun lining up for the position, she said.

More prosecutors may be loaned to the schools after the program is reevaluated next year.

Resources were placed in middle schools after an analysis of cases occurring in or on school grounds last March. Results indicated 53 of 97 misdemeanor and felony cases were reported from middle schools throughout the county, matching the national data, which averages the highest risks in middle schools. In the same time period, 19 of 37 juvenile cases involving a weapon were found in middle schools.

Arnett said the schools were selected after discussion with school administrators.

First Stop, a partnership between the State Attorney's Office and the Department of Juvenile Justice, began its intervention tactic in March.

Each week the State Attorney's Office receives 10 to 15 requests from parents or youth service professionals to provide insight into the justice system for children at risk of committing crimes. Strictly voluntary, First Stop is open to children ages 12 to 13 whose family agrees to send the child to an eight-hour program that familiarizes him or her with the legal consequences of delinquent behavior.

Twice a month children can be dropped off for an attorney-proctored tour of the courts, where a brief meeting is held with a judge, a tour of the county juvenile assessment center, lunch at the criminal complex, a tour of the juvenile detention center, county jail and county boot camp.

The final phase of the crime deterrent class will be to view a movie produced by the Florida Department of Corrections on life in a Florida prison.

SASS data will be tracked over the three years to determine:

If programs prevented anyone from repeating an offense.

If the same students are involved in incidents and if so, do the offenses become more serious?

To what extent the incidents are gang or hate crime related.

If specific events correlate with age, sex, ethnicity or grade.

"We are not profiling the students. We are looking at ways to intervene and get a service to a child without bringing him into the legal system," said Arnett.

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