Common sense
Panel helps troubled youngsters When you’re young, sometimes the hardest part of getting into trouble is getting out of it.
Thankfully, Fayette County has an excellent program to help young first-time offenders avoid trouble in the future: the Youth Commission.
Started more than a decade ago, the program began as a way for the Fayette County Juvenile Probation office to catch the offenders with the less-serious, non-violent offenses, and assign them volunteers in the community who could keep close tabs on them.
To say the program has been a success is an understatement. In the last 12 years, 415 have gone through the program. Of those, 342 were successful and have not offended again, said Youth Commission coordinator Mike Lukac. That’s over 80 percent of youths that have taken part in the program who have returned to the straight and narrow – a phenomenal number.
The program works because unlike traditional juvenile punishment – which in these types of less-serious cases would be a slap on the wrist – it gives the child accountability and illustrates why they should not offend again.
The probationary period of six months or less includes curfew, school attendance, not committing additional crimes, and can include community service and competency development programs.
By catching these youths as first-time offenders before they have a chance to become second- or third-time offenders, these youths have been pulled back from a slippery slope. Without the program, these area kids could have landed in a lifetime of trouble, a lifetime behind bars or a lifetime cut abruptly short.
However, if the program is going to continue to be a success, it needs your help. The program is premised on volunteers in the community who give of their time to help the first-time offenders, Lukac said. And volunteers always are needed.
The volunteer members supervise the offenders who come through the program as community probation officers. Those who have volunteered with the program have said the time commitment is not overwhelming, but the benefit and sense of pride of making a difference might be. There are currently commissions for all of Fayette County’s school districts except Frazier (though that doesn’t preclude students within the district from participating).
The commissions that handle offenders from the Albert Gallatin Area and Brownsville Area districts are particularly in need of volunteers, Lukac said, but all of the districts that participate can use additional help.
This is one of those hands-on, tangible ways you can help make where you live a better place. We urge you to consider offering a bit of your time to make a difference with the youth commission.
Those wishing to volunteer must go through a criminal background check. For more information, call Lukac at 724-430-1223, extension 423, or e-mail him at mlukac@jpo.fayette.org.