mh/juve.pr          97-279         Contact:  David Weaver, 301-217-6530

ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO
VISITS MONTGOMERY COUNTY
TO TALK ABOUT JUVENILE JUSTICE
PREVENTION PROGRAMS      For Immediate Release:  September 10, 1997



     As Congress continues its work on juvenile justice measures, U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno traveled to Montgomery County today to talk about prevention programs.  
     Speaking at The Other Way Day Treatment (TOW) program in Rockville, an
outpatient treatment and educational facility for at-risk adolescents and their families, the
Attorney General was joined by Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and
representatives of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national, non-profit crime prevention
organization.  The group released a comprehensive report on juvenile crime today that says 
crime triples when school gets out.  
     "I urge Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill that guarantees funding for crime
prevention, so that communities across the nation can replicate the kind of success The Other
Way Day Treatment Program has had in helping kids turn their lives around, encouraging
them to stay in school and to reject delinquency and crime," said Reno.    
      The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed its version of the legislation,
which includes funding for juvenile crime prevention programs (H.R.1818) and enforcement
measures (H.R. 3).  The Senate bill (S.10) has recently cleared the Judiciary Committee and 
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is expected to be heard before the full Senate this fall.
     Duncan used the occasion to announce his own local enhancements with a strategic
plan for community-based juvenile justice programs aimed at treating and preventing
substance abuse among teens.  The enhancements, which are highlighted by expansion of the
adult-oriented Community Accountability, Reintegration and Treatment (CART) program to
include juveniles, provides several initiatives and a redirection of funding to mitigate juvenile
substance abuse and its impact on crime.  The CART program is a non-residential program
where offenders receive home monitoring and intensive treatment.  Participants live at home,
have supportive sponsors and receive electronic and substance abuse monitoring.  County
officials say that 40 percent of all juveniles currently in residential treatment programs in the
County have a history of alcohol and/or drug abuse.
     "Clearly, we need to do all that we can to ensure that the troubled youth of today, do
not become tomorrow's hardened criminals," said Duncan.  "Our commitment to prevention
and treatment programs is real and substantial, and the great work being done here at The
Other Way Day Treatment Program is testament to that fact."
     Nearly one quarter of Montgomery County's population is under the age of 18.  In
1996,  there were 4,872 juvenile arrests in the County, with the majority of the offenses
involving assault, theft/shoplifting and narcotic possession.  Between 1990 and 1995, the
number of juvenile offenses grew by 34 percent, from 4,365 cases in 1990 to 5,848 in 1995. 
Particularly alarming to officials is the arrest rate among female offenders in the County 
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which has increased by more than 70 percent in the last five years.   
     With the implementation of this strategic plan, Duncan says he hopes to involve the
entire community into helping curb juvenile substance abuse and crime in the County.  The
plan is expected to be launched soon with the following measures being implemented:
o change the single-point-of-entry to provide system-wide (HHS, MCPS and law enforcement
and justice community) screening, assessment and referral services for substance abuse;
o train all public safety staff who come in contact with children and adolescents to screen on
a continuous basis for substance abuse disorders and refer the individual to a single point-of-
entry site;
o partner with the Maryland Department of Justice and the Juvenile Court and create a
graduated sanctions probation program for abusing juvenile offenders;
o reshape child and adolescent clinics into regional behavioral health centers with emphasis
on serving children and teens who have substance abuse problems;
o restructure outpatient treatment services for children and adolescents to include specialized
programming for clients with substance abuse disorders;
o provide early intervention and substance abuse education County-wide through a
standardized protocol with local Youth Services Centers; and
o utilize funding previously saved from the operation of mental health clinics to refund school
and community-based programs.        
     The Other Way Treatment program has been in existence for more than 20 years.  
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Currently 27 teens, ages 13 to 18, are enrolled in the program which provides an intensive,
structured therapeutic and educational outpatient program for teens with substance abuse,
mental health or behavioral problems that prevent them from successfully participating within 
public schools.  The program, which is a cooperative effort of the County's Department of
Health and Human Services and Montgomery County Public Schools, has a success rate of 86
percent.  The primary objective of the program is to treat the child's problems and return
them to their community school.
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