Bill Voy District judge proposes long-term rehabilitation program

As a district judge handling juvenile delinquency cases in Clark County, William Voy sees the county's worst young criminals.

Some are beyond the help of the juvenile system and will be tried as adults. Others are still young and innocent enough for rehabilitation under existing state juvenile justice programs.

But for some juvenile delinquents, neither option fits, Voy said.

Putting them in the adult system will only strengthen their criminal ties, but a trip to state juvenile justice custody means they could be back on the streets in as little as four months, hardly long enough time to break from the influences that put them on the path of crime, he said.

Hoping to fill that void, Voy is leading a campaign to create a long-term juvenile rehabilitation program for youths in state custody. The 18- to 24-month program would address worries about community safety while putting youthful offenders on the road to rehabilitation.

Such a program probably would apply to about a dozen juvenile offenders from the county each year, Voy said. Now some of those youngsters are being sent to the adult system, where they have few services and become immersed in the criminal world, he said.

"I guarantee you, they have a hell of a better chance in our system than the adult system," Voy said.

The long-term program might apply, for example, to a 15-year-old with a broken family who carried a gun to protect himself from gang members in his neighborhood.

Youths sentenced to state custody serve an indeterminate period of time at one of three facilities, including the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko and the Caliente Youth Center. They can be released after they complete their rehab and counseling programs, which critics say can be six months or less.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Teresa Lowry, who leads the juvenile crimes unit, said that is not enough time for many offenders, their victims or the public.

"It's not good for the community, and it's not good for the kids," she said.

She supports Voy's plan for a long-term program. It would give prosecutors another option in dealing with juvenile offenders who might otherwise be certified as adults, and it would help deal with offenders who commit violent crimes but are too young to be tried as adults, she said.

Under state law, a youth must be 14 or older to be certified as an adult.

Public Defender Phil Kohn agreed that the state needs a long-term program for juvenile offenders.

"I do not want juveniles certified as adults," he said. "The whole idea of the juvenile system is to recognize that when we're young, we make mistakes that we wouldn't make when we're older."

Voy said his plan could be achieved by using a private contractor, such as Rite of Passage, to run the program at a cheaper cost to taxpayers.

Fernando Serrano, chief of the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services, which runs state juvenile justice programs, said he looked forward to reviewing Voy's proposal. But he said he wants to hear from juvenile court judges from throughout the state because they also would be affected by any change.

He also said finding money and workers could be obstacles.

Kohn said the state needs to act to stem the tide of juvenile offenders who grow up to become adult criminals.

"I think the Legislature has to find the money and the manpower," he said. "I don't think putting these kids in prison solves the community safety problem. You put them in prison and they learn to become better criminals, and we're worse off for it."

CERTIFIED AS ADULTS

The number of juveniles being prosecuted as adults in the Clark County justice system is on the rise. The numbers from last year and the first four months of this year: