NEW MEXICO
Troubled teens get alternative justice at Otero County drug court
Twelfth Judicial District Judge Angie K. Schneider likes to think of the new juvenile drug court program as a “problem solving court.”
“The whole goal of this is to keep kids out of the system to begin with,” Schneider said. “I’m just such a huge believer in problem solving courts. The juvenile drug court program had closed in 2011, so we got together and opened that. June 25 was our first day in court.”
She said there are eight juveniles enrolled in the program, which operates like a 12-step program but without the religious component. “Traditional consequence aren’t working if people keep coming back,” Schneider said. “We need to shift our thinking on how we do things and that’s what’s so incredible about these problem solving courts.” She said an adult version of the program overseen by District Judge James W. Counts has been “hugely successful.”
Juvenile offenders are screened for possible entrance into the program, but not everybody gets in, Schneider said. “It’s a program for people whose lives are negatively impacted by drugs or alcohol,” she said. “That can be by a full-on addiction or it can be somebody who is just experimenting.”
Schneider said she served as a defense attorney on District Judge Karen Parson’s Lincoln County incarnation of juvenile drug court for 10 years. “After doing this as a defense attorney, you watch over a period of time,” she said. “They don’t want to let down the team. There is always resistance, but they always come around and it’s an incredible process to watch.”
Schneider was also a board member of the Lincoln County Juvenile Justice Board and the Juvenile Drug Court Advisory Board before assuming her judgeship in Alamogordo. “When I came here, there wasn’t a juvenile justice board,” she said. “You have to have a juvenile justice board to submit grant proposals to CYFD (Children, Youth and Families Department) to access funding for juvenile programs.”
The program is currently running on “zero dollars,” she said, adding that there are efforts underway to obtain funding. “The state isn’t just going to throw out money,” she said. “It wants oversight to make sure that the money they are allocating is being used properly.”
Schneider said she invited a group of community members and they assembled a juvenile justice board which is currently working to identify all the services available for juveniles in the community. “We are gathering data to do a community needs assessment to find gaps in services for juveniles and families in crisis,” she said. “Drug court is a part of that continuum.”
Schneider said the board is comprised of numerous city and county officials, a representative of Children in Need of Services, attorneys from both the defense and prosecution, law enforcement, probation and community members.
Schneider said consequences for juvenile delinquents have to be the least restrictive but with the safety of the community in mind.
By John Bear
19 August 2014
