By: Cheryl Thurston
On Thursday, September 3rd, the Bladen County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council met in their regular session to discuss progress on projects already in the works, and new items that are coming in the near future. The local JCPC works with the Department of Justice’s Juvenile Delinquency Prevention program to provide a comprehensive strategy to help prevent and reduce juvenile crime and delinquency. Their focus is on strengthening families, supporting core social institutions like the 4-H club, and promoting delinquency prevention.
Currently, in North Carolina, if a youth who commits a crime is at least 16 years old, they are tried as an adult. Only if the offender is 15 years old or younger, do they come before the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention task force. Once in the system, the youth will proceed through an intake process with a DJJDP court counselor, where the complaint and evidence are evaluated. In some cases, youth are diverted to a community resource, with or without a diversion plan or contract. Others move forward to juvenile court for disposition. (North Carolina is one of only 3 states where children as young as 16 are tried as adults. The others are New York and Connecticut.)
The North Carolina DJJDP was established in July 2000, by pulling together the components of state government that had previously worked separately to address juvenile delinquency. In Bladen County, the JCPC, has set up:
- a Skills program, which fosters interpersonal skill building and guided growth in the areas of school behavior, peer relationships, substance abuse, sexual behavior, and conflict resolution;
- a Teen Court program, which provides an alternative diversion opportunity to first offenders;
- a Restitution & Community Service program, which provides a structured and supervised program to afford youth the opportunity to perform court ordered Community Service;
- and a Court Psychological Services program, which will help to ensure that appropriate interventions are identified and implemented to prevent further penetration into the Juvenile Justice System.
During Thursday’s meeting, announcements were made concerning the resumption of Juvenile Court, (second half of September); the 4-H Life Skills program is now underway with 2 on the waiting list; a 2% cost of living increase was passed for state employees, to be paid for with monies from the Supplies, Food, and Restitution budget.
Court Counselor, Lance Britt, stated that JCPC intake is slow during the summer school break, because most complaints come through the schools, or the Juvenile Justice department. Area youth are encouraged to participate in the upcoming Cry Out America campaign, to be held September 11, at 6 p.m., at the Bladen County Courthouse.
Robert Tillman reported that the SPEP model will be introduced to all public school systems, and each school will receive a SPEP score to ensure that staff have the proper credentials, to monitor the frequency and duration of youth in the program, and to ensure that risk levels are properly set for all youth in the program.
The JCPC is instituting a Problem Improvement Plan with the intention of identifying deficiencies and bringing them in line with JCPC protocol.
In further business, it was announced that the JCPC website is 70% complete and should be finished by the end of September.
The JCPC meet every First Thursday of the month at noon at the Department of Public Safety Extension Building. The meetings are open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend.
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