The Family Advocacy and the Parents 4 Parents committees in Rapid City are searching for ways to guide parents whose kids are in trouble with the law, and help them navigate through the juvenile detention and court systems.
The juvenile detention system in South Dakota is changing. Officials say they are trying alternatives to the traditional jail-cell-like incarceration for youth that have committed crimes. They say they are focusing on rehabilitating youth that are in trouble with the law instead of punishing them.
Judd Thompson is the Chief Court Services Officer of the Seventh Circuit Court in Rapid City. He says at this time in 2005 there were seven-hundred-twenty-five kids on probation. Today there are three-hundred-twenty-three.
Some concerned parents say not enough is being done to help at-risk youth. Thompson says the numbers are encouraging, but parents must be involved in the process for the changes to be successful.
“Those numbers are telling me we’re going in the right direction. We have a ways to go, we have a long way to go, but we’re going the right direction. I think if we can do a better job, we personally can do a better job, of engaging you and other parents then we’ll continue to get better. I’m willing to try to engage, I’m willing to do what we need to do, but everybody that walks in the door can’t have a different idea,” says Thompson.
Officials say many juvenile offenses stem from truancy. They say when kids skip school they have extra time on their hands and that can lead to opportunities to get into trouble.
