2 NEIGHBORHOODS FOCUS OF EFFORT TO CUT YOUTH ARRESTS

Two Tucson neighborhoods whose kids get caught in the juvenile
justice system at a disproportionate rate are the focus of an effort
by court officials to reverse the trend.

The "A" Mountain and Sunnyside neighborhoods have the highest number
of youths referred to Pima County Juvenile Court and a higher number
of Hispanics, Indians and blacks in the county's juvenile system than
other Tucson-area neighborhoods, Presiding Juvenile Court Judge
Patricia Escher said. "It's a little unnerving," she said. "We don't
have all the alternatives in place in the community. That's what
we're working on now."

Nearly 10,000 delinquent juveniles are referred to Juvenile Court
each year, according to court statistics. Escher did not have data on
the number of juvenile arrests from the "A" Mountain and Sunnyside
neighborhoods, but she said reports are pending.

The court's Children and Family Services Division is working to place
more of the youths with relatives, a family friend or a neighbor
instead of a group home or a shelter when the parents aren't capable
of providing adequate care or supervision.

Escher said the offenses of the youths in the two neighborhoods are
generally minor. The youths are picked up for marijuana or
methamphetamine use, for family fights and property crimes. Truancy
and curfew violations are also a problem, Escher said.

Some youths remain in county detention longer than they should
because of a parent's drug or alcohol addiction and limited
education, poverty or homelessness, the judge said. The court has
jurisdiction over children ages 8 to 17 and the average length of
stay in the detention center is 14 days. Escher and Rik Schmidt,
director of Pima County Juvenile Court Services, have met with the
"A" Mountain and Sunnyside neighborhood associations to identify
resources for youths in the at-risk neighborhoods.

City Council members Jose Ibarra and Steve Leal, who represent the
neighborhoods, are also involved in the effort.

"Right now it's in the early stages," said Ken Green, "A" Mountain
Neighborhood Association president. "I'm happy that this is in the
works." Green said he has a 15-year-old and a 9-year-old and he is
eager "to put the effort into this, to stop this disparity. We will
work with the court any way we can."

Although the neighborhood is racially mixed, more than half the
youths in the "A" Mountain neighborhood are Hispanic, he said. Green
said a key resource to help troubled kids may be neighborhood
churches that could mentor some of these youths.

Training aimed at developing ways to provide "a permanent family for
every child" is set for Friday at the Doubletree Hotel at Reid Park.
It's for judges, attorneys, probation officers, foster parents,
adoptive families and others. The local sponsor is the Community
Partnership of Southern Arizona, the state-licensed regional
behavioral health agency, said Escher, who met with the Tucson
Citizen Editorial Board yesterday.

For more information on the effort to reduce the number of minorities
in the juvenile court system, call the program's coordinator, Marcia
Rincon-Gallardo at the Pima County Juvenile Court Center, 740-4542.