BY RICK COHLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Part V in Rick Cohler’s series on Brown Count Court programs.
BROWN COUNTY – The Young Adult Court is the newest of the treatment courts in Brown County and is unique in the country according to Brown County Circuit Judge Tammy Jo Hock who oversees the court.
The court began operating in 2023 and recently celebrated its first graduate.
“We accept into this program people with a variety of needs,” Judge Hock said. “I think the people who end up in the other treatment courts probably had these issues as a young person but they weren’t able to receive the help they needed. Our goal is to help these young people address those issues. A lot of our participants have education needs, employment needs, parenting skills. If we can address those issues, maybe they won’t end up back in the system as an older person.”
The court was first proposed by Eddie Boyce, founder and CEO of Better Days Mentoring.
“Working with people I noticed a gap when they age out of other programs,” Boyce said. In 2019, Boyce said he wondered what a treatment court for young adults might look like.
“I took it to Dave Lasee, the district attorney,” Boyce continued. “The lack of foundational skills is probably the reason they’re already in the situation they are and if we can help them as they age out it might keep them out of the system. He bought into the idea. The organization effort began to help with basic skills such as money management, coping skills, all the abilities that they had not been taught.
“When I was creating this, I saw those deficiencies in some of the kids I was dealing with.
“At 16, it’s hard for me to now unwind those behaviors, unwind that thinking, unwind that pattern or even how to be consistent in their life. I said why not have something that can still help them.”
Applicants must have been convicted of non-violent offenses and are screened using the same qualifications as other Brown County alternative courts.
The applicant is put through the Risk and Needs Triage (RANT) tool which yields an immediate and easily understandable report that classifies offenders into one of four risk/needs quadrants, each with different implications for selecting suitable correctional decisions by judges, probation and parole officers, attorneys and other decision-makers.
The risk to repeat determines the level of intervention needed. While in the program, participants are subject to random drug testing and must maintain their scheduled counseling sessions and other requirements.
Initially, participants must make an appearance before a judge weekly.
If they successfully progress, those appearances can be scaled back.
Several participants appeared before Judge Hock on Thursday, March 8.
All of the participants reported they had successful weeks including one who has received permission for a trip with family outside the country.
The lone exception had missed a test at the sheriff’s office and had responded several times with outbursts to people.
He was ordered to consider his behavior and write two essays concerning his behavior prior to his next appearance.
Violators in the program are often ordered to spend several days in the Brown County Jail as a consequence of their actions.