I decided today to start this blog as a journal of sorts of what the ends and outs are through the juvenile justice system because it is so confusing…and the answers are not readily found.  At least they haven’t been for me.  I’ll be posting more about our personal story and how we have found ourselves now trying to navigate this lonely road….which is where I find myself today. 

Alone.  My hope is that through this journal/blog that others who find themselves in the juvenile justice system in Arkansas won’t be so lost….and won’t have to go it alone.  I just hope the system actually exists somewhere because my experiences so far have not taken us anywhere but to this place of despair and nothingness.  I know there has to be more than what the local Juvenile Division has offered thus far on our journey!

There has to be.

My son is officially a high school graduate! Congratulations to him! Funny how that even though I graduated over twenty years ago, the graduation ceremony has not changed. The band plays….the graduates march….the speakers inspire….the principal congratulates….and the hats fly.

There wasn’t much to the court appearance, so I’m thinking this is not unusual. Hopefully not anyway.

There still hasn’t been any contact from any juvenile officer or anything. But I guess that is the norm since he has not had his court date yet. It just seems like since they are recommending he needs to be displaced from his home, school, job, etc. and that nothing short of committment to DYS is appropriate…well, I just don’t understand why they concerned enough to check up on him during this period.

What does this say about juveniles who truly are a danger to themselves and/or others…are they just wandering around with no oversight or intervention until they too have court? I am sure there are some families and juveniles that really do need help – help that I thought was readily available. Instead it just seems nonexistant….of course that being said, that’s how it seems to me and it probably is not the case (hopefully) for juveniles who really are a danger and actually do need services.

I don’t want the judge annoyed by his case and sometimes it felt a little like the public defender was arguing with the judge rather than just presenting information. But no one seemed too bothered by it, so that’s probably just how it works.

I do wish their was more of a defense and focus on the circumstances of the event as well as a focus on his cooperation….and less of what seems like a focus on trying to get off easy. I don’t think he should ‘get off easy’…It just seems like his punishment ought to be regarding his not reporting the event…

I definitely think anyone, including my son, should expect to reap what they sow….but he didn’t scatter these seeds…he was where he was supposed to be, no wrong place – wrong time…he was just in the garden when the seeds were scattered. Even if they do want to keep the charges the same, surely there is a more flexible point system that takes into account the involvement of the accused.

Why is it called a judicial system if no one is ‘judging’?

????

I will update this list of some of the circuit court judges assigned to hear juvenile cases periodically.

1st Judicial Court – Forrest City, AR – Honorable Baird Kinney
3rd Judicial Court – Ash Flat, AR – Honorable Kevin King
4th Judicial Circuit – Fayetteville, AR – Honorable Stacey Zimmerman
5th Judicial Circuit – Russellville, AR – Honorable Ken Coker
6th Judicial Circuit – Little Rock, AR – Honorable Wiley Branton
6th Judicial Circuit – Little Rock, AR – Honorable Rita Gruber
7th Judicial Circuit – Malvern, AR – Honorable Chris Williams
8th Judicial Circuit – Prescott, AR – Honorable Duncan Culpepper
10th Judicial Circuit – McGehee, AR – Honorable Teresa French
11th Judicial Circuit – Pine Bluff, AR – Honorable Thomas Brown
12th Judicial Circuit – Fort Smith, AR – Honorable Mark Hewett
14th Judicial Circuit – Mountain Home, AR – Honorable Gary Isbell
15th Judicial Circuit – Danville, AR – Honorable Terry Sullivan
16th Judicial Circuit – Heber Springs, AR – Honorable Stephen Choate
17th Judicial Circuit – Searcy, AR – Honorable Craig Hannah
18th Judicial Circuit – Hot Springs, AR – Honorable Vicki Cook
19th Judicial Circuit – Bentonville, AR – Honorable Jay Finch
20th Judicial Circuit – Conway, AR – Honorable Rhonda Wood
21st Judicial Circuit – Van Buren, AR – Honorable Gary Cottrell
22nd Judicial Circuit – Benton, AR – Honorable Gary Arnold
23rd Judicial Circuit – Lonoke, AR – Honorable Phillip Whiteaker

I have no idea what the average caseload is for a juvenile court public defender, but the maximum annual caseload is set at 120 cases for full-time public defenders and 60 for part-time public defenders.

Saying that the public defender is “our” attorney seems like a bit of a stretch. However, I would venture to guess that many attorneys, both public and private, have multiple cases at any given time. The only thing that makes me wonder is that with a private attorney….they meet you and go over the case prior to the court date. Whereas, at least in our case, no one had any contact with us prior to the court date.

Obviously that would not stop an attorney from passionately representing their client….but it seems like it is a little bit behind the eight ball for the client.

We did actually have a meeting with the assigned defender after the initial court date. The primary concern seems to be about the point system, not on the level of involvement or anything. I’m sure it doesn’t help that my son was the only one who cooperated.

The point system seems cut and dried and the recommendation was strictly based on that. But the public defender said he would check into it and see if there was precedence about the point system….so who knows exactly what direction we are headed in at the moment.

Still no contact or oversight from the juvenile department or anything. For recommending that he needs to be committed to DYS, it seems to me that they are saying society is not safe with him….although I certainly think society is safe…. yet no one seems concerned enough to even check up on him. Kind of strange.

or maybe not… I guess it’s like adults that place bail and remain free pending trial. But even with bail, the bond company, at the least, checks up on them.

is okay though we are still in limbo… hope they figure out something BEFORE his court appearance.

We arrived about an hour prior to the time listed on the citation. I would not say that is necessary because absolutely nothing was taking place that required early arrival.

There was no ‘docket’ listing of court cases or anything, but rather a large gathering room like a big waiting room where you just sat. It was not inside a court room, however there was a sign admonishing visitors to turn off cell phones and you did walk through a metal detector (unmanned) in order to reach the sitting room.

Little by little, more families, youths and people entered the sitting room as the time got nearer. Apparently everyone has the same “appointment” time listed on their citations as well.

Eventually a representative from the public defender office appeared and said that if you were using the public defender, then you could get a paper with the state’s recommendation for sentencing. The actual public defender was not there, so it wasn’t a question and answer session.

Simple put, you could decide to agree with the recommendation and plead true….and odds were that the judge would go with the recommendation. Or you could decide to ask for a trial date and then the recommendation no longer was in effect….in other words, it could be worse. The impression I got was that it was quite risky not to take the recommendation and plead true, but there was no individual conversation about our case or anything.

Just take the recommendation or request a trial at a later date.

Well, the recommendation had not improved during the ‘review’ process….although I’m not sure if there was a review, but I guess there was. Nevertheless same point-based recommendation…. DYS commitment.

But I can understand that also…that is much easier on everyone in many cases, I’m sure. However, best as I understand it, the only way to explain the level of involvement or anything like that is to request a trial. Seems kind of scary, but I think the DYS is the maximum sentence, so I don’t think we fall under the ‘taking a risk’ category of people who pick the trial option.

Then again…

Since this meeting took place two days after the citation was issued, I am gathering that the intake officer only has a cursory overview of the case as laid out by the investigating detective. The meeting seemed to be less about who was charged, but rather what they were charged with. I guess since it is juvenile court, the detective lays it out for the juvenile intake officer who then makes the recommendation for the juvenile court prosecutor….rather than just directly making the charges. Seems like a formality though.

It is based on a point system. If it is so many points, then the recommendation is automatic, or at least that is my understanding. Initially, the officer misread the points allotted for the charge and gave a lower recommendation…and it was one that he seemed quite comfortable with….initially.

Although I am positive a review would have pointed out the error, we noticed that the number did not match what we could read on the sheet. Well, that changed the recommendation. No longer was probation/community service appropriate….now it was recommending commitment to the Department of Youth Services.

I say ‘it’ in that apparently the sheet of paper with the point system did the recommendation….had nothing to do with who was charged or any cooperation…just what points were assigned to the charge.

However, it still has to be submitted to the prosecutor for review. I’m guessing it is a different prosecutor than the one to which the detective submitted his investigation. Or at least that is how it sounded.

End of intake meeting. It was short and sweet….quite cordial, but rather odd that the recommendation changed so dramatically based on a point system rather than based on the individual charged. Didn’t seem to have much to do with him, the individual, at all.

It, unfortunately, doesn’t have a section “what to expect on court date”…. oh well, but it seems to highlight various areas.