~
THE CIRCUS

I spent all day yesterday sitting in court playing court liaison. I guess that it's punishment, because we (us Intake goons of Unit 214) managed to steal the previous court liaison person, Nakia, from them and got her moved over to Intake. So... as punishment for our sins we have to cover the slot until they can fill it. Well, I suppose that it's worth it cause Nakia is a jewel. But... there I was sitting in court all day.

It was interesting. The first thing that came home to me was that those great men in the black robes don't have a clue just like the rest of us mere mortals. The judge was well intentioned but he didn't really grok the fact that the juvenile division really isn't in the punishment business alone, but has parallel missions to develop competencies. Bla bla bla. I know... more psychobabble. But what we really want kids to do is just quit it. Come one pinhead... quit it! Otherwise, you're gonna get a felony record and never become a hairdresser like you dream to be someday when you grow up. Or a nuclear physicist, or what ever it is that they keep putting on the blotter.

It just amazes me that kids will put so much at risk and not even come near to having a clue that they are putting more than themselves on the chopping block, but their whole family too. Aaargh! Grimace! Hateful face! Idiot!

I could understand it if there were any advantage to the typical juvenile screwup, but I'm sitting there watching the Judge deal out penance for felony stealing a lawn mower, then telling the judge that the thing didn't work right so the kid didn't think that he should be charged. Duh! Then the parents get pissed at the Judge when he says probation when he could have put the little jerk in a committment program till his 19th birthday if he wanted to. The father got irate and started yelling at the judge. Big mistake. This is a circuit judge and slapped the loudmouth in the pokey for contempt. Now the mother is weeping and the kid is playing the hangdog and the judge is irate with the Department because we didn't have any alternatives for him. Sigh. And the kid still doesn't understand that HE was the cause of all this. What a mutant!

The Judge did do one cute thing. He had a young businessman before him... sale and delivery of cocaine. You should know that the crack business has been in the toilet for some time now. All those middle class white kids driving their BMWs into the 'hood are looking for H these days. Only poor folks do cocaine... and that means no money. Anyhow, this young street hustler was before the judge and the man in the black robe fined him $5000 and retained jurisdiction so that the kid will have the rest of his life to pay off the fine. Has to pay court costs too. And cost of care for his probation. Ha!

And on that note, the day ended without even the usual whimper. No bang. I spent the rest of the evening listening to the Glenn Gould's take on Bach's Goldberg Variations. Who said there isn't a god?

Bob