El Paso County, Texas, Juvenile-Probation Department

According to Oscar Reyes, Deputy Chief Juvenile Probation Officer, the El Paso County Juvenile Probation Department was founded in 1950 to prevent children, usually ages 10 to 17 charged of an offense from being detained in an adult jail or sent to an adult prison. On September of 2006, El Paso County Juvenile Probation Department has been the only designated court in Texas, a Model Court by the National Council, Alfredo Chavez, 65^th Judge District Court. It has been the best innovated department in the nation.

Sixty percent of the El Paso County Juvenile Probation Department's funds come from county, and 40% come from the State of Texas and grants. As per Oscar Reyes, Deputy Chief Juvenile Probation Officer, El Paso has been the city with the lowest numbers of juveniles detained and incarcerated, which have been an average of 56. So far, the number of juveniles in custody this year has been an average of 47. The average time a juvenile spends in detention has been 11 days.

Juveniles come into Juvenile Probation Department based on a Probable Cause or reasonable suspicion, which is a physical referral--a complaint report from a police officer. Parents of offenders come into the department for interview to explain them the situation, and what they should expect based on the severity of the offense. The delinquents are first placed on the least restrictive program as possible. In certain cases, the court will order for the juveniles to be kept away from home as a last resort. Children who are high risk offenders, or are runaways, which prevents them from attending court are placed in Detention while waiting for their court trial--Pre Jurication. In Detention, offenders are provided with meals, recreation and schooling. Juveniles who are found guilty are incarcerated in Challenge. In Challenge, they're placed in different units depending on offense and age. Consequently, the court determines what type of program is in the best interest of the child and the community. The following are the different types of programs the court assigns the juveniles to depending on the seriousness of the offense.

As per Reyes, if a juvenile has committed a minor offense, the judge may order Counseling Release, in which the offender must attend counseling after he/she has been released. Secondly, the judge may refer the juvenile to the Volunteer Conference Committee without court process. The child must provide certain service hours to the community depending on the type of offense he/she has committed.

Another type of program is Referral Prosecution for more serious consequences. It includes a 2 hour orientation presentation on consequences of the offense. It also addresses the parents on the process and involvement of the court into the family's life, will be responsible for attorney and court fees, will spend hours away from work, etc, etc. Next, is the pre-trial where the child pleads guilty or not guilty. And if the juvenile is indigent, he/she will be appointed a public defender, or from a group of attorneys who will represent the offender. Then, there's the Ajudication Hearing, which is a trial by jury presented by witnesses where it's determined if the child is delinquent or not.

There may be a Pre-disposition Report, in which an investigation or background check is performed on the delinquent, such as any mental health issues, domestic violence, school issues, community issues, sexual abuse, or if the juvenile has committed a sexual offense on a family member. In these cases, the court may consider that it's not safe for the child to be at home. The court will order for the delinquent to be removed from the home and consider him/her to be placed under Residential Treatment. Under Residential Treatment, the offender receives counseling and/or drug treatment before going back into the home. The judge will determine when it's safe for the delinquent to be integrated back into the home.

In a Disposition Hearing, the child may have committed a one time offense. In this case, the court determines supervised probation for the offender. Parents and the child attend counseling. Parents determine the needs of the child. Parents must drop off and pick up child to and from school. And in some cases, parents must attend school with the child. The child will have to follow a curfew. But in other cases, if the parents address the child's needs, control the situation and his/her grades are in good standing, the court may even recommend no disposition.

In case of a sexual misconduct or drug abuse, the offender must be sent to a specialized program out of El Paso. The court imposes certain conditions. For example, the offender should not be associated with any gangs or dress as a gang member. The teen and his/her family must be restricted from having alcohol in the home. The offender may not be near where there's alcohol.

ISP, as stated by Reyes, is a specialized program where the children show no violence in school, only within the family. These children have problems, such as, mental and emotional issues and/or have been abused. For these types of cases, there are in home services, such as, therapists, caseworkers who work directly with family in order to resolve issues or differences within the family. Furthermore, TOCOMMI is another specialized Divertionary Program for more serious mental disorders, such as, schizophrenia and other mental illness that can cause the juveniles' delinquency.

SHOW CAP, according to Reyes is another specialized program where the high risk community is under. These are juveniles who are in Challenge, or found guilty. Usually, juveniles who have committed more violent crimes, such as, burglaries, assaults and more gang type related offenses. Challenge offenders attend Boot Camp, which is a military based training provided by probation officers. Some children go gradually to Boot Camp, and others go straight to Boot Camp. In Boot Camp, the children are up at 5:30 am. They attend physical training, attend school (Delta Academy), counseling, parenting classes, drug treatment, cognitive skills, which is an understanding of the impact on the decisions they make and consequences of their decisions whether good or bad.

Delta Academy, according to Eric Pena, Assistant Principal and Adan Lopez, High School Counselor serves as a regular school from the El Paso Independent School District, in which teachers throughout the county from high schools, middle schools and some elementary schools visit JPD in order to provide schooling to youngsters who are incarcerated or waiting for a court trial. Pena states that no students graduate from Delta Academy. Delta Academy has served as a means for the students to continue their education until the judge releases them. After the juveniles are released, they're sent back to their home school.

The classes consist of the 4 course subjects, Math, Science, English and Social Studies with no electives. Also, some art and music are offered to the students during the week and weekends. As Lopez states, Delta Academy also provides Special Education and English as a second language (ESL) instruction in order to accommodate every child's needs. The academy also provides General Education Diploma (GED) ordered by the judge for students who are deficient in credits, usually 17 and 18 year olds. The juveniles take tests as in their regular home school they attended. In the academy, they are provided with more individualized attention in approximately diverse groups of 12. The students are more focused and advance rapidly in the academy due to having less distractions. "Delta Academy has been very successful in providing educational needs to every child. Juveniles have come back to visit us and said that Delta Academy has been the best schooling they had," stated Pena and Lopez.

Oscar Reyes, Chief Deputy Probation Officer states that JPD has a few volunteers who are members of the Conference Committee. Volunteers are trained by staff members, such as the Conference Committee Coordinator. The training for volunteer consist on the process of each program mentioned above, reporting abuse and neglect allegations, different resources in the community to refer the children to depending on their needs. For example, a volunteer may need to refer children to a certain vocational school in order to gained knowledge and skills for a future job opportunity. And if the children are in need of glasses, the volunteer must refer them to an optometrist. The volunteer detention officers receive specialized training, such as, emergency procedures, CPR, first aid and suicide prevention. Probation officers are trained in penal code, Texas law, court documents and so forth.

If you would like more information or volunteer, you may contact the El Paso County Juvenile Probation Department at (915) 849-2500, or visit at 6400 Delta Drive, El Paso, TX 79905.