Prevention vs. jail time

Family Court Judge Henry Woods offers sensible advice about young offenders.

Jail is not a healthy place for children, and the justice system should do what it can to find alternatives for teens who break the law.

That was the basic message from Family Court Judge Henry Woods, who recently addressed the Rock Hill Kiwanis Club. Woods will retire in the spring after serving on the court for 11 years.

“If the Family Court operates the way it should, and we put enough money in on the front, we're going to save every person in this room a lot of money later on,” Woods told the audience. “That's a hard concept for some people to grasp.”

Woods cited figures showing that a two-year intensive drug therapy program costs $8,000 to $9,000 a year, compared with the $20,000 annual cost of jail time. Rehabilitating teens not only works better than incarnation, it also costs less.

Woods asked the 50 or so people in the audience to think hard before denouncing government sponsored alternatives to jail for young offenders. While some critics label such programs as a slap on the wrist for young criminals, early intervention programs often prove to be more effective over the long run.

Part of that may be due to biology. Research shows that juvenile brains are more malleable and that young offenders are more likely to show remorse for their crimes later. That enhances the ability to rehabilitate them.

It also makes no sense to send young people to prison if all it does is turn them into hardened criminals. Instead, they need a second chance.

York County has been a leader in this trend. In 2003, the county established one of the first drug courts for juvenile offenders in the state. This is not a court for first offenders but rather a last resort after all other options have failed for young people who repeatedly violate probation.

The primary goal of the court is to help juveniles with the potential to become contributing members of society to kick their drug habits and go straight. A secondary goal is to keep these juveniles out of the prison system, which already is overcrowded and underfunded.

Some still champion the idea of hard time in adult facilities for young offenders. They argue that the first priority should be protecting the public.

But the hard-nosed approach for most juveniles isn't practical. In many cases, jail time merely ensures that young prisoners will hone their criminal skills with the help of older inmates.

That does little to protect the public over the long run. And, as Woods notes, it's expensive.

Woods has been around, boasting a long career as a lawyer, three terms on the Rock Hill City Council and more than a decade on the Family Court. He is qualified to speak about what works and what doesn't regarding troubled youths.

Members of the community, especially those who serve in public office, would do well to listen.