Juvenile justice: where it all begins

The Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center looks like an ordinary office park nestled serenely in a South Austin enclave. But life here is anything but mundane. When young people step in the courtroom of Judge Jeanne Meurer, she greets them with harsh reality. Meurer has presided over the 98th District Court since 1989. The kids she sees are as young as 10 and as old as 18. One-third are female. They come from a variety of backgrounds and walks of life. Some have had all the advantages in the world; others haven’t had any. The only thing they all have in common is that they've committed crimes. "Things have drastically changed over the years that I have been doing this work. You see kids who are committing crimes that are much more serious in nature. You've got a lot of anger. You've got a lot more violence," Meurer said.

Gardner Betts works to change that behavior to make kids more productive. They do not want a child to go to the state. It’s not an easy life here; kids who are held, either awaiting trial or because they've violated their probations, get few creature comforts. The common area has molded furniture, tight security, and the rooms are a 10 by 10 foot box made of cement and tile, with nothing but a cot and a small window. Their lives here are excruciatingly planned so there’s no time to act up. They’re spent in class learning coping skills. Emphasis is placed not just on punishment, but reshaping lives. "Every minute they're here, there's a purpose. It's not that you're just waiting to go to trial. If you're waiting to go to trial, while awaiting a hearing you also need to be doing something productive with them," Meurer said.

Meurer said for the most part, Travis County supports getting its troubled youth back on track. According to the county, it has more than a 70 percent success rate with kids under juvenile supervision. The recidivism rate for 2004-2005 was 34 percent. The teens here must face the turmoil they've caused. A 17-year-old girls who faces charges of auto theft and assaulting a police officer while under the influence has lived here since November. The residential portion of Gardner Betts is where kids with drug addictions and mental problems are treated. "I feel I have to start over. I have no friends that don't use drugs. I have no friends that aren't homeless. I'd like to go to UT or something like that, and I'm just hoping I'll find a world I didn't know before," she said.

Not all Travis County kids under juvenile supervision are placed in detention or residential treatment centers. And not all want to change. The ones who habitually commit crimes or become dangerous to society have had exhausted their chances. Meurer begrudgingly commits them to state care in the Texas Youth Commission. "Anytime we say, 'Well, the state has to fix it. Well, it's one size fits all.' And Texas is a big state, and I've never seen that one-size-fits-all in anything," Meurer said. Meurer also has another alternative, community-based treatment where kids live at home run by a company called Southwest Key.

Bob Robuck
22 May 2006

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=162480&SecID=2

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