Sisters juvenile program is being replaced by new project

City Manager Eileen Stein, left, listens as Eric Beckwith and Jenny Scanlon describe a new juevile program. photo by Jim Mitchell Sisters' long standing program to help juvenile offenders get on the right track will soon be replaced.

At a City Council workshop last week, the Deschutes County Juvenile Community Justice Department presented a new program that will replace the Juvenile Empowerment Team (JET) program in Sisters.

Eric Beckwith, Community Justice Officer, took over the Sisters JET program in December, 2003.

"We ran the JET program as it was traditionally run during the school year and looked for an alternative program during the summer," he said.

Community input indicates that Sisters' citizens would like to see more community involvement.

Beckwith said, "Juvenile crime is a community issue and the community should have a bigger involvement in resolving that issue."

Deschutes County Juvenile Community Justice has set goals based on "Balanced and Restorative Justice" principles. Restorative justice attempts to establish a "balance among the needs of the victims, offenders, and communities."

"Restorative justice builds on traditional community values and effective sanctioning practices, including victim-offender mediation, community decision-making, community service, restitution, victim and community impact statements, and victim awareness panels," the department reports.

Beckwith sees the juvenile offender program working as a collaborative effort between the offender, the victim (if any), the justice department, and the community. Instead of a teen court of the offender's peers, the offender will answer to a panel consisting of the victim, members of the justice department and community members.

Deschutes County crime statistics show the dominant juvenile crimes committed in the Sisters are MIP -- Minor in Possession (of alcohol) and criminal mischief.

First time offenses are referred to the Juvenile Department. If the youth is eligible and appropriate for diversion, the case is referred back to Beckwith, who then puts the offender on a diversion contract, based on the recommendations of the community panel. Contract considerations include possible referral for alcohol evaluation, community service, and whatever else the panel deems appropriate.

If all terms of the contract are completed and there are no more law violations within a specified time, the offender can have his/her record expunged, i.e., the offense is eliminated from the official police record.

Beckwith added, "The idea is to 1) build better relationships with the kids in the community and 2) make the kids feel like they are more of a part of the community. With Teen Court they don't feel like they are part of the community, they feel like they are part of the 'system.' This way when violators see that community members care about them, then they can really see that connection."

He concluded, "We have almost everything in place for this program. I would expect to be ready with the next referral we get for diversion. Mainly we need to recruit the members of the panel."

Beckwith's continued role in the Sisters community is currently uncertain.

Jenny Scanlon, Director of the Deschutes County Juvenile Community Justice Department, explained, "Because the sheriff's department will no longer be able to financially support this program, Eric's current position will be cut from its 3/4 status to 1/2 on January 1, 2005. We are hoping to keep it as at least a part-time position.

"Two days ago, Eric was hired to be full-time within our department. That means we will be shuffling around staff and we don't know what that looks like for Sisters yet. So I'm not telling you that we are pulling him as of January 1, but that may occur.

"If that is the case, we will be hiring a part-time person to take over that position on January 1."

Scanlon concluded, "We're very invested in the services we provide in Sisters. I continuously hear from Bob Macauley (Sisters High School Principal) and Tim Hernandez (School Resource Officer) about the great partnership with Eric and with our department and we want to continue that.

"Our pledge to you is that we will continue to do that."