CONWAY -- The tall 11-year-old boy with close-cropped hair, dressed in bluejeans with a polo shirt, dwarfed his mother as they both stared wide-eyed from the lectern at the judge's bench before them in the courtroom.
The boy had just pleaded "true" to an assault he committed in August while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
His breath audibly expelled when Judge Troy Braswell opted to ask him about the hobbies he enjoyed -- instead of the crime that brought him there.
"I color and draw," the boy said, still wide-eyed, but seemingly more at ease. "And I play basketball."
This led to the judge -- who serves in Division 2 of the 20th Judicial Circuit Court, which covers Faulkner, Van Buren and Searcy counties -- quizzing the boy about professional basketball teams.
After a few minutes of banter, Braswell got down to business. The boy had run away and pulled a knife on someone. Braswell, a pained expression on his face, looked at the boy, whose head by this point was hanging low.
"Did something happen?" Braswell asked him. "What's going on, buddy?"
Braswell -- who also serves as the circuit court's juvenile-court judge -- listened as the boy and his mother recounted the challenges they've faced and the small triumphs they experienced.
His chin resting on his right hand, Braswell stared earnestly at the laptop screen in front of him.
For the past four years, when a teen receives a criminal citation in Braswell's district, they are evaluated using in-depth tools such as the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth and the Risk Assessment and Behavioral Screening.
The comprehensive tools, administered by the court's juvenile probation office, are used to help juvenile courts identify those youth offenders who can be safely diverted from juvenile detention into other community intervention programs.
Braswell does not view the assessment until an offender is found guilty or pleads true in court, as required by law.
"If used incorrectly, the information they provide could be used against them before they are found delinquent," Braswell said. "As an example, if I hear a case and I'm trying to determine true or not true and I reviewed the SAVRY, I might see negative things about them and use that to find them delinquent. Also, families are more honest if they know it won't be used as a weapon rather than a tool."
In 2015, a year before Braswell implemented the assessment system in his district, 495 juveniles were sent to jail. In 2018, that number was reduced by more than half at 212.
"We have to make sure that the youth is safe and the community is safe. It's hard to balance that sometimes," Braswell said. "Every case that comes before me, I think, 'Am I about to wreck this kid's life?' We can't just throw these kids away."
In January of this year, Braswell went a step further and started using the Detention Assessment Tool. Where the in-depth assessments are done during the juvenile intake process after the child has been issued a criminal citation, the Detention Assessment Tool is done in real time, when a law enforcement officer calls the juvenile probation office and says he believes the juvenile should be arrested.
"It's a 5-, 10-minute tool. It asks: What are the current allegations? Has there been prior contact with the juvenile justice system? Are they on probation?" Braswell said. "It's immediate."
Braswell said the impact of the Detention Assessment Tool could be seen almost immediately.
In the first six months of 2018, Braswell's district had 141 juvenile detentions. Compared with the same period in 2019, there were only 38 detentions -- a 73% decrease in children being sentenced to jail.
In the last legislative session, lawmakers passed what is now Arkansas Act 189 of 2019, requiring every juvenile tried for a crime to receive a formal risk assessment -- such as the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth -- before sentencing. Act 189 of 2019 also bans incarcerating children who commit misdemeanor offenses who are assessed as "low-risk."
The new law will be in force statewide by July 2020.
"Jail is not rehabilitation; it's punishment," Braswell said. "If they're not a danger to the community or themselves, why can't we intervene on the front end?"
Most of the children are sentenced to supervised probation, assessed a fine and ordered to participate in one or more of the community offerings.
That intervention has grown to dozens of community partnerships with nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and the faith community.
The programs include a wrestling program administered by Central Baptist College; a writing workshop by Jennie Case, assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas; a boxing club run by Neil Rutman of UCA; a life skills program by AmeriCorps volunteers; and a Zumba class offered by Karla Jones of Clinton.
A juvenile book club is held the first Saturday of each month at Panera Bread and is supported by donations from individual community members and from several church and civic organizations.
A weekly Shakespeare theater club is sponsored by UCA professor Adam Frank and the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.
Daniel Tyler, founder of the Conway nonprofit organization Deliver Hope, works closely with Braswell to offer various juvenile intervention programs, including intensive mentoring, sports and a parenting mentorship program for teen mothers.
"This is a good example of how the community provides support and services for youth," Braswell said. "Government cannot always be the answer. We see the biggest change when we engage our community."
Tyler said it has been exciting to see the impact the programs and assessments have had on the juvenile justice system in Faulkner County and beyond.
"We're very lucky here because we have a judge who sees what is needed and believes in restorative justice," Tyler said. "It's not just about the kid and that crime. It's about his family structure, what resources they have and what they don't have. I've never seen him just hand out some sort of punitive judgment. He's always trying to figure something out."
In January, Braswell will hold the first meeting of a Juvenile Justice Community Board, comprised of local leaders from the legal, political and faith-based communities.
One of the board's members, Steve Goode, a Faulkner County justice of the peace, said the community board will explore issues that affect juvenile justice and explore other intervention tools.
"I'm really excited to serve on the board," Goode said. "It's a way that I can partner with him [Braswell] to find out what we can do. I think he realizes we live in a different society today. There's not always an intact family unit, just a lot of broken homes. We've got a full jail. If we can change their habits as teenagers, then maybe our jails won't be so full."
NW News on 11/12/2019