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Chapter 2 Setting and Methods The juvenile drug court’s overarching goal to teach accountability to the youths is not an easy task. Rather, it is a complex process for staff that involves gathering information from various external agencies and negotiating how to interpret it. Youth accountability—as found in the juvenile drug court—depends on the youths themselves, as well as many institutional actors, work routines, and organizational contingencies. Inside the Court With its unique countywide model, the juvenile drug court in this study opened in 1998 with the ability to handle up to 150 youths at any given time.1 As with many other drug courts, this one is post-dispositional, meaning the youths already have been “true found” (guilty) on felony-level offenses. The drug court is one of a few noncustodial dispositions such as probation, work programs, and community service that allows youths to remain in their communities instead of going to juvenile hall, California Youth Authority, or a group home. These youths have all had some prior experience with the juvenile justice system and drug treatment. Probation officers and judges refer them to the court after they have accumulated three noncompliant events while under traditional probation supervision and have substance abuse treatment as a condition of their original probation.2 The staff describes the youths as requiring intensive supervision. Some state the youths are hard-core kids one step away from long-term institutionalization . They largely base their assumption on the youths’ past record, as most have been involved in the juvenile court for some time and have failed in the first-level probation supervision.3 Most of the youths are Caucasian and Latino, with a few African Americans and Asian Americans. They range from fourteen to seventeen years old. Eighty-one percent of the participants are male. The Caucasian youths are mainly from middle-class families, while the Latinos, African American, and Asian American youths mostly come from poor families.4 In general, Latino youths are overrepresented and whites are underrepresented in the court: 51 percent of the drug court youths were Latino, 17 compared to 27 percent in the general county population, and 37 percent of the drug court youths were white, compared to 56 percent of the county population.5 If accepted into the court, the youths are expected to go to school every day, be respectful at home, and attend drug treatment after school. Staff frequently monitors youths’ actions in these areas. In addition to making frequent appearances in court, the youths can expect to see their drug court probation officers, police officers, and drug counselors between two to three times a week, checking on them at their schools, drug treatment programs and homes at all hours of the day. Table 2.1 shows a typical week for a youth in the beginning stages of the court. The youths had very little free time outside of the court. Many wanted to work but could not do so because of the rigid court schedule. Here’s how Sebastian, a seventeen-year-old Latino, described his schedule in the beginning of the program: I was going to school and drug court every week. He’ll [drug court counselor ] come to my house and test. Actually, I was going to drug classes also. . . . So like Tuesdays and Fridays, because those were my days to go to counseling [treatment], I had to tell my teacher I had to leave so I had to get on the trolley and on the bus. Then after that I’ll get out at like 4:30 or 5:00, and then I’ll have to get on the bus again and go to the trolley, then go home. So by the time I get home, it’s like 6:00 or 7:00, already kind of dark . . . So the only free time I really had was my weekends. The youths have to complete four phases to graduate from the drug court. Each phase has a different level of court supervision (e.g., random drug C h a p t e r 2 18 Table 2.1 Sample weekly schedule for youth Hours Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 8 a.m.–1 p.m. School School School School School 3–6 p.m. Treatment Court Treatment Treatment (til 4:30–5 p.m.) 7 p.m. Curfew Curfew Curfew Curfew Curfew Note: The hours for school would vary depending on the type of school (e.g. independent study programs were...

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