Graduation and Juvenile Court

Last week, I attended the graduation at Orcas Island High School and watched my daughter Genevieve's good friend Megan Corbett receive a diploma with 21 other students. I love graduation. It is a time of hope and promise for so many Island young people and such joy on the faces of proud parents.

But not every young person is graduating. A few have had trouble with the law, and the sheriff, prosecutor, and superior court have all been involved in Juvenile Court, a division of the superior court.

A juvenile court "docket" is held each week. At that time, the prosecutor and Tom Kearney or another Juvenile Court Probation Officer appear in court to review offenses in which the accused is a juvenile under 18 years old. At first glance these cases appear much like adult court, cases are called like adult court and the accused has a right to counsel. But the words used are different. Instead of a trial, we conduct a "fact finding" and when confinement is necessessary it is called "detention", not "jail". In juvenile court, the court, prosecutor and juvenile court services attempt to act in the "best interest of the child." Reform of the offender is a primary objective.

Before the new judge position was established, the juvenile court docket was conducted by Friday Harbor lawyer Don Eaton, who served as a court commissioner. With a full time judge, the role of Commissioner Eaton has diminished and the superior court judge now conducts juvenile court, which is preferrable. That will provide consistency for the court and families because we have often found that problems with youth coincide with other problems in the home that come up in other cases.

All of us in San Juan County are fortunate that we have a well-run juvenile court services office that provides a good blend holding offenders accountable and at the same time engage them to become their very best.