1993_04 Insight April 1993

              Page A8
April 28,1993
Juveniles
from page 1
things will only get worse before any
improvements begin to surface. Those
improvements, they fear, may not
come at all.
"We're looking at a society that is
continuing a vicious cycle of violence," said former Juvenile Court
Judge Larry O'Neill. "Our juvenile
offenders arc becoming more violent
because that's what they sec in their
families and on Lv„ and that's what
they consider a proper response to
their daily problems.
"It's no surprise anymore for mc to
sec a nine-year-old who has raped or
sodomized anothcrchild. We'rea violent society, and wc can't expect the
government to step in and solve this
problem alone."
Tom Cruz, supervising parole agent
for their local division of the California Youth Authority agreed.
"Wc don't operate in a vacuum,"
Cruz said. "Juvenile crime is not just
a justice system problem. It's a societal problem, and it can't bccorrccted
until it's identified as such."
Cruz and O'Neill pointed to the
breakdown of the family, media glorification of violence and a sagging
economy as some of the main contributors to the recent explosion of
juvenile crime.
"We're going downhill real fast,"
Cruz said. "The entire fiber of society
is deteriorating, and juvenile crime is
just one aspect.
"Until we have the resources to fund
more intervention and preventative
programs, the snowball is just going
to get larger. Unfortunately, the important variable in this equation is
money."
Alternative Methods
Susan Bcchara, directorof the House
of Hope, a community outreach center, disagreed and said that her program is proof that funding is not necessarily the key to reaching the juvenile offender.
"The key to reaching these kids
through love and caring and through
showing these kids the way," Bcchara
said. "I know it sounds comy, but I
think we sometimes forget who we're
dealing with here. These arc kids, and
kids want to be loved and cared for."
Bcchara stressed that accountability
is another important aspect of any
successful program for the juvenile
offender and said that she is "fed up
with the probation department's line
of excuses."
"These kids know the probation department is all talk and that they won' t
back it up," Bechara said. "Probation
doesn't follow through for these kids,
and they say it's because of their
heavy caseloads. I don't believe that.
"Wc have about 700 kids here at
House of Hope, and we're operating
on a grass roots level. Wc know what
a heavy caseload feels like, and we
have practically no funding. But we're
dedicated to these kids, and wc follow
through every step of the way."
Verne Spcirs.FrcsnoCounty'schicf
probation officer, understands
Bechara's criticism. It's something
he hears a lot, but it's something he
said that the probation department
can't do much about.
"In the last 12 to 15 years, we've lost
the ability to intervene when a minor
first enters the system," Spcirs said.
"If a kid is arrested for a property
offense, we simply can't afford to
have that minor placed on probation.
"Wc would love to work closely
with that minor who is just starting in
the system and to connect with tne
school and the home. Wc just don't
have the resources. We've lost that
edge, and that's what's making our
job harder and harder."
Speirs said that each officer in juvenile probation used to be assigned a
caseload of aboul 50 to 100 kids.
Those numbers have ballooned to
exceed 300 kids per probation officer.
"We're forced to track these kids on
paper," Spcirs said. "We used to be
able to work with each kid directly.
That option went out with staff cutbacks and a rapidly growing number
of juvenile offenders. There are just
too many to deal with any of them
properly."
Portrait of a Juvenile Offender
Twenty-three year-old La Linthong
is one such juvenile. A product of the
system, Linthong remembers his
crimes with little remorse and recalls
his time in detention facilities with
near mockery.
"I got in trouble because I was hanging around the wrong kind of people,"
Linthong said. "Then I went to Juvenile Hall and CYA and got to hang
around with people who were even
tougher or meaner.
'They thought they were helping
mc there, but they didn't teach mc
anything. I just learned to be tougher
and to survive."
Linthong started his criminal career
when he was 11 years old, and he
remembers the succession of crimes
hecommitted and how they increased
in severity and intensity.
"Petty theft, grand theft, lots of burglaries ... anything to make some
money." Linthong said. "Then I got
nailed on an assault charge. It just
kept getting easier and easier to mess
up."
After several trips to juvenile court,
numerous stays at both Juvenile Hall
and C.K. Wakefield and two trips to
the California Youth Authority,
Linthong finds himself at a crossroads.
"I think I'm changing," Linthong
said. "I hope I'm changing, and the
only reasons I am changing is because
1 want to change. It's not because they
locked me up.
"I hated being locked up, and I hated
having the people at CYA treat mc
like they were my mom and dad. But
college and that he wants to land a
good job. He knows he' I need a good
job to make some "good, honest
money."
"Straight is the only way I can play
it, Linthong said. "Anything else
would slow down my plans. And I
have plans. Being locked up just
doesn't fit into them anywhere."
A Victory for the System
O'Neill understands the negative
impact that incarceration can have on
juvenile offenders but points to success stories like Linthong as evidence
that detention facilities havetheirplacc
in the juvenile justice system.
"There are kids who think that being
locked up doesn'ihelpthem/'O'Neill
said. "They think they just pass their
SrneTihiil it's time to get out and that
no good came of iL Sometimes they're
right.
"But sometimes the kids real ize that
Juvenile Hall and CYA arc not places
they want to be. If they don't want to
the "revolving door" policy at Juvenile Hall as an example of the system's
inadequacy.
Since 1981, the number of minors
booked into Juvenile Hall has remained constant at approximately
5,000 bookings each year. The number of juvenile arrests in Fresno
County, however, jumped from 7,617
in 1981 to 11,523 in 1990.
There wasn' t enough room to house
these additional juveniles in the detention facility because the numberof
beds at Juvenile Hall has remained
unchanged.
Fresno defense lawyer T.J.
Richardson said that the kids on the
streets realize this and know that they
have a good chance of being quickly
released from custody if apprehended.
"It's not like they are really fearful
of the punishment," Richardson said.
"There's no deterrent there. They go
out and commit these crimes almost
with immunity."
Increase in juvenile referrals
•ZWMKJ-
10000-
■   1990-11,000
□   1992-13,000
■
o-i
r
they didn't do anything for me. They
just kept mc locked up for a while. It
didn't change anything."
Linthong has been out of CYA for
nearly six months now, and he proudly
boasts that he hasn't yet violated his
parole.
'The whole crime business just got
old, and I wanted out," Linthong said.
"I decided I wanted to have a life, a
family and a job. I couldn't do that if
1 kept getting into trouble."
Linthong iscurrentlyenrolledinRe-
Start, a program designed to allow
high school drop-outs to go back and
finish their educations,and he said his
number one goal is to get his diploma.
He said he's considering going to
come back, they know they have to
straighten out."
O'Neill believes that punishment is
the equivalent of accountability for
these youngsters and forces them to
think aboul ihcir actions and the consequences which follow.
Unfortunately, he said, the consequences aren't always administered,
even when iheactionsarerecognized.
Overburdened
"The whole system is just inundated
with too many cases," O'Neill said.
"Wedon'thavc ihe resources to handle
them all, and we're not reaching these
kids because we, as a system, have so
little to work with."
O'Neill pointed to what he sees as
Fresno County's Assistant Director
of Institutions Jack Tracy agreed.
"These kids know how io play the
system,"Tracy said. "They know ihey
have a good chance of getting kicked
loose when it's not considered a serious crime. They know we have a tight
population, and they use that to their
advantage."
Tracy said that juveniles who have
committed petty theft or auto theft are
some ofthe most likely to be released.
"When you're looking at releasing
rapists and murderers instead, the
thieves have to go," he said. "We
don't really have another choice."
The lack of choice, Tracy said, has
been dictated by shrinking operating
budgets, not by a shortage of accommodations.
Financial shortfalls have kept Juvenile Hall's population at 23 percent
below capacity for the past several
years. Unit F sits vacant, waiting for
some 24 juveniles to occupy its beds.
But space isn't the only consideration. It costs upwards of $30,000 a
year to house on juvenile, and ihe
institution's budget can't allow for
any more inmates.
"It's bad, very bad." Tracy said.
"And I'm afraid it's only going to get
worse."
The Future
Palomino. Spcirs, Bcchara and
O'Neill all agree that the future is
bleak but that it's never too late for
reforms in the system. They contend
thai progress can be made and that
juvenile crime can began to decrease.
All admit, however, that no one
seems to have discovered the formula
to successfully achieve these goals.
"We're going to have to start with a
new approach," Palomino said. "We
can't continue to ask these kids to go
through ihe system for a few months
and then be completely different from
the environment they're accustomed
to, and the environment they'll be
returning to.
"We need to focus on intervening
early in the child's life and on helping
ihe family unit as a whole. If we can
gel the family to succeed, the child's
chances are vastly improved."
Speirs agreed but added that a com -
munity involvement component is
also essential.
"The average citizen has to become
an advocate of putting the juvenile
justice system back in order," Speirs
said. "Our solutions are becoming
victims to the budget axe, and if anybody thinks there's more tocut, they 're
dead wrong.
"We're looking at a system that's
eroding, and it's not going to be able
to be rebuilt without the support or the
average citizen and the resources io
finish the job."
Looking at the prospect of increased
funding. Palomino just sighed.
"The prospects are gloomy," he said.
"Things don't look good."
O'Neill, however, said he's doing
his best to remain the optimist
A former Bay Area police officer,
O'Neill knows first-hand about the
despair and frustration that face many
of these juveniles every day, and he
has watched the very fabric of society
unravel before his eyes.
"I have seen the houses these kids
call home," O'Neill said. "And I can
still smell that smell.
"But I have also seen kids who have
survived and who have made it
through. I know we can still help
these kids and make a difference, and
that's why we can't ever give up the
fight
"We simply can't ever give up try-
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