Topic: Handling Tobacco Offenses

Question: How does your program handle tobacco offenses?

Responses from Coordinators:

Anne Dubinsky
Teen Court Coordinator
City of Lewisville Teen Court
P.O. Box 299002
Lewisville, TX 75029
Phone: (972) 219-3671
Fax: (972) 219-3414
adubinsk@cityoflewisville.com

Our tobacco violations are handled the same as any other violation with one addition: state law requires the youth attend a state-approved Tobacco Awareness Class. The defendant comes to Teen Court, has a jury trial, and is sentenced to community service hours, jury duty, and the class.

In our area, we have 3 classes to choose from. I give the youth a flyer on each one and they call and schedule. Unfortunately, the classes cost $50 to $60. The parents complain about this but they have no choice. The classes in our area fill up quickly and I always encourage them to schedule right away. They are 2 weeks in length, 2 or 3 evenings a week.

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Angela Anderson
Teen Court Coordinator
“Your Choice, Our Voice” Teen Court
c/o North Homes, Inc.
1880 River Road
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
Phone: (218) 327-3055
Fax: (218) 327-1871
aanderson@ISD318.org

We have actually stopped taking tobacco violations. There were too many and too redundant (boring) for the kids. All tobacco violations now go to diverse and I think it starts with a $30 fine and goes up from there.

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Becky Rose Colahan
Teen Court Coordinator
Harney County Teen Court
c/o Harney Co. DA's Office
450 North Buena Vista
Burns, OR 97720
Phone: (541) 573-8300
Fax: (541) 573-8304
brose@orednet.org

We have sentencing guidelines the jury must follow. It includes 10-20 hours of community services, an Essay minimum of 250 words, and educational class and a minimum of 1 Jury service.

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Benjamin Morgan
Union County Teen Court
Union County Juvenile Department
1102 K Avenue
La Grande, OR 97850
Phone: (541) 963-1012
Fax: (541) 963-1038
bmorgan@union-county.org

The Union County Teen Count handles first-time MIP Tobacco violations informally. Offenders are referred to the Tobacco Education class offered at the local high school. It is an eight-week class facilitated by school nurses. Second offenses are referred to Teen Court, where sentences may include community service, presentations (at schools, etc), and further education.

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Christy Keen
Director
Dixie County Teen Court
P.O. Box 1180
Cross City, FL 32628
Phone: (352) 498-1263
Fax: (352) 498-1404
Keen_chr@dixie.k12.fl.us

I do not take them through a trial. 1st offense, I simply assign 25 hours of Community Service and a 1 pg. essay on the effects of tobacco on your body. 2nd offense, receives an additional 25 hours community service (=50), an additional page on the essay (=2), 8 hours of the TEG (Tobacco Education Group), and a $25 fee (civil penalty). On 3rd offense each sanction increases. I've never had over a third offense, but I'd probably just refer it back to the source (Clerk's office and/or county judge).

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Clint Harbour
Coordinator
Austin YMCA Teen Court
1100 West Cesar Chavez
Austin, TX 78703
Phone: (512) 476-1183
Fax: (512) 478-8065
ymcateencourt@hotmail.com

We treat tobacco possession as any other possession offense (alcohol, drug paraphernalia). The discipline range is 15-40 hours of community service and 3-8 jury terms (our highest punishments). In Texas, all minors in possession of alcohol or tobacco must complete a state-required course on alcohol or tobacco awareness (depending, of course, on which illegal item the minor was guilty of possessing).

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Donald Learned
Coordinator
20th Judicial Teen Court
2110 Kansas Ave
Great Bend, KS 67530-4407
Phone: (620) 793-1930
Fax: (620) 793-1977
donl@help4kansaskids.org

Our 20th Judicial District Teen Court located in central Kansas does take tobacco offenders. Although smoking is a problem in our area, very few juveniles are arrested for tobacco situations. We get all our referrals from the county or district attorneys. The call this "Possession of Tobacco" or "MIC Tobacco" The juveniles have a Teen Court trial just like for fighting, drinking or etc. The tobacco offense carries a mandatory 5-20 hours of community service, which is determined by the Teen Court jury. A typical case would have the following sentence: community service of from 5-20 depending on the Teen Court jury, 1 night of Teen Court duty in the next few weeks, probably a letter of apology to parents, viewing a video on smoking and that would probably be all demanded by the Teen Court jury. We treat this offense in the similar fashion with a trial and etc. As I have said, we have only had 3 tobacco cases out of the 358 total cases, which have gone through our Teen Court. I think the police probably feel that their time can be better spent on other crimes besides smoking, even though this is a crime. The police could arrest many juveniles each day as they leave the middle schools and high schools in our area if they so wished. We have about 5,000 juveniles from grades 7-12 in our five Kansas counties that make up our judicial district. It is much like the police could arrest hundreds of adults each week if they sat outside the clubs, or eating establishments and stopped adults who had been eating and drinking and probably had an alcohol level which would cause them to be arrested. So many adults are driving after drinking across our nation, but the police just do not have time to spend all their time on these offenses.

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Ed Broche
Western Springs Juvenile Peer Jury
c/o Western Springs Police Department
740 Hillgrove Avenue
Western Springs, IL 60558
Phone: (708) 246-1161
Fax: (708) 246-3609
ebroche@wsprings.com

We try not to accept tobacco violators into the Peer Jury here. We did a few times and the word got out that instead of paying the $50.00 fine, the parents could send their children to the Peer Jury. Needless to say, this is the wrong reason to want them seen by the Peer Jury.

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Erin Schellhardt
Youth Court Coordinator
Johnson County Youth Court
Johnson County Court Services
1255 East 119th Street
Olathe, KS 66061
Phone: (913) 324-6965
Fax: (913) 782-3297
erin.schellhardt@jocoks.com

We do accept them, but we have not had a tobacco referral yet.

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Gary Egbert
Coordinator
Maricopa County Juvenile Court
1810 West Lewis
Mesa, AZ 85210
Phone: (602) 506-2627
Fax: (602) 506-2574
garegb@juvenile.maricopa.gov

We handle tobacco Violations like any other case. Respondents can be assigned an educational Saturday class on the effects of tobacco, as well as jury service, essays, etc. One girl was assigned to write an apology letter to her lungs!

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James Bowen
Coordinator
Mapleton/Florence Peer Court
P.O. Box 739
Florence, OR 97439
Phone: (541) 902-0304
Fax: (541) 902-0304
florencepeerecourt@yahoo.com

Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana violations all attend an awareness class, do community service, and sit on the Peer Court Jury for other violators.

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Jason Bergstrand
Youth Court Coordinator
Cass County Youth Court
c/o Lutheran Social Services
1325 11th Street So.
Fargo, ND 58103
Phone: (701) 271-3253
Fax: (701) 235-7359
jbergstrand@lssnd.org

We do accept tobacco violations. Unfortunately within this past year our city recently made tobacco possession for youth 15-18 years old just an infraction requiring only a $25 fine. If a child is under 15 years of age they would be referred to Youth Court. We have several disposition options through Youth Court the main ones would be: Tobacco Education Class 3 hours or the END Program, which is a 8-week tobacco cessation program. Other requirements might be community service, jury duty, essays about the harmful effects of tobacco, etc.

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Jennifer Strutz
Program Coordinator
Stayton Sublimity Youth Peer Court
362 N. Third Avenue
Stayton, OR 97383
Phone: (503) 769-5749
Fax: (503) 769-7573
Jastrutz@aol.com

We handle MIP Tobacco referrals. We use a youth judge’s panel to hear the cases. Each offender receives community service hours, peer court training and jury duty as mandatory. Each offender is treated differently and can have to write up essays re: effects of tobacco and related illnesses, human body art work effects; a mural (if town will allow); pick up bags of cigarette butts from the park, speak to elementary kids re consequences. We have a 50/50 success rate in completion and I’m not sure of the recidivism rate - would be hard to measure. Our Justice Court Judge backs us up for failures in that he holds the citation and peer court paperwork and sends out a letter just before 18th birthday to appear in court and then follows through from there.

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June Lucky
Coordinator
Teen Court of Hopkins County
P.O. Box 1113
Sulphur Springs, TX 75483
Phone: (903) 439-1200
Fax: (903) 439-6563
hcteencourt@hotmail.com

Our court handles the M.I.P.-Tobacco cases as a Class 4 violation, which receives 43-60 hours of Community Service. The defendant is required to write an in-depth paper on tobacco use and the dangers and hazards of that use and is given 12 hours for that research. This is in lieu of the 12-hour tobacco class that has been required in the past. The Teen Court judge calls the defendant back to the stand and asks questions about the paper to see if the defendant has learned anything from the research done. This is done at the 2nd court date when the defendant is serving a 2nd jury term. The judge then requires the defendant to have the paper published in the school newspaper. We don't try many tobacco related cases so it has not been a problem yet getting the articles printed in the school newspaper.

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Kathleen Zeitlin
Program Director
Salt Lake Peer Court
645 South 200 East, #101
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Phone: (801) 322-1815
Fax: (801) 322-9732
slpcourt@Xmission.com

We have a Tobacco, Drug, and Alcohol program consisting of four 2-hour classes for the referred students and their parents. This program was developed by the Salt Lake School District's Safe & Drug Free School program. An additional frequently used option is: Interviewing someone who is or was a long-term smoker about the effects of their smoking. (Sometimes this is the parent). We also have tobacco educational material that is given to the students.

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Leslie Comeaux
Teen Court Coordinator
Keller, Halton City, Watauga Teen Court
7101 Whitley Road
Watauga, TX 76148
Phone: (817) 514-5823
Fax: (817) 281-1191
Lcomeaux47@hotmail.com

Tobacco cases are handled like any other case in teen court. They run from 30-50 hours of Community Service and 2 jury terms. The only difference is teens that have a tobacco or alcohol ticket must also take a educational class on either subject. Most classes run 6-8 hours.

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Marian Irvin
Teen Court Coordinator
Flagler County Teen Court
c/o Clerk's Office
201 East Moody Blvd., Room 138
P.O. Box 787
Bunnell, FL 32110
Phone: (386) 437-7407
Fax: (386) 586-2116
mirvin@clerk.co.flagler.fl.us

Tobacco Violations - those coming in on citations for possession are automatically assigned 16 hours of community service, the hours are tracked and monitored by the coordinator, once completed the County Court Judge is notified (with completion of hours and awareness class), the cases is dismissed. Repeated violations-youth is subject to loss of driver's license.

RETAIL THEFTS of Tobacco products - the youth receives sanctions for retail theft and possession of tobacco products, which carries all other mandatory sanctions imposed for any other charge referred to Teen Court.

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Myra Weeks
Coordinator
Wichita County Teen Court
Wichita County Courthouse
900 7th Street, Room 212
Wichita Falls, TX 76301-2482
Phone: (940) 715-8575
Fax: (940) 766-8177
Myra.Weeks@co.wichita.tx.us

In Texas, the first violation requires a tobacco awareness course, no exceptions. Subsequent citations we handle as a serious offense with 52-65 hours CS and 5-8 jury duties. Any after that are ineligible to come to Teen Court in our area.

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Narci Norgaard
Program Director
Bend Youth Court
P.O. Box 108
Bend, OR 97701
Phone: (541) 388-5566
Fax: (541) 385-6197
nnorgaard@ci.bend.or.us

Deschutes County, in central Oregon, has a diversion program in each of the 4 largest towns all using a Youth Court for dispositions. Some tobacco offenses do not get heard in court and the youth completes a diversion agreement only. Either way, if they are in the City of Bend program they usually are sentenced to a Tobacco Education Class or cessation program, write an essay on what they have learned, a program fee, and a law related education meeting with me.

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Nathan Miller
Probation Officer
Wright County Teen Court
Wright County Court Services
10 2nd St, NW Rm 141
Buffalo, MN 55313
Phone: (763) 682-7712
nathan.miller@co.wright.mn.us

We leave the sentence up to the jurors, just like any other offense. They typically order a tobacco education class and some community service and sometimes an essay about what they learned at the tobacco education class. Our office facilitates the tobacco education class, which is about 4 hours long. We charge $30 for the class. For second offences, we usually skip the tobacco education class and order a $75 fine.

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Olivia Harrington
Teen Court Coordinator
Duncanville Teen Court
P.O. Box 380280
Duncanville, TX 75138-0280
Phone: (972) 780-5063
Fax: (972) 780-6463
Oharrington@ci.duncanville.tx.us

Texas state law requires a teen caught in possession of tobacco or using tobacco, must:

1. pay court cost
2. take a tobacco awareness course.

Our judges sometimes let the teens go though teen court instead of paying the court cost. They are sentenced to a range of 42-64 hours AND have to complete the tobacco awareness course. If they do not complete they are set for a show cause hearing for the municipal judge to handle.

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Peggy Beckum
Municipal Judge
Green River Teen Court
City of Green River
50 East Second Street North
Green River, WY 82935
Phone: (307) 872-6116
Fax: (307) 872-0567
mugrn@courts.state.wy.us

Our Teen Court in Green River doesn't treat tobacco violations any differently than we do curfew, underage consumption, shoplifting, speeding or moving violations. We also take first offense unlawful use of marihuana. We don't have a drug court in our county yet. I think it is coming. The participants are all sentenced according to my guidelines which include a fine, work-restitution, serving on teen jury, essays, two hour workshop/counseling offered to Teen Court called CHOICES. It is free to us. Sometimes participants have to tour the jail. Teen Court juries don't seem to be as harsh on smokers as they are on someone who shoplifts.

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Roland Jones
Coordinator
Denton County Teen Court
P.O. Box 1134
Denton, TX 76202
Phone: (940) 349-7809
Fax: (940) 349-8325
rvmjones@cityofdenton.com

Texas Sate law states that anyone under the age of 18 caught in the possession of tobacco products must attend a tobacco awareness class, or complete 12 hours of tobacco related community service when a class is not available. If they fail to complete the class the state will revoke their driving privileges for up to one year. For parents that want more accountability from the teenagers they can elect to send them to Teen Court. It is a class four offense in my court requiring 30-60 hours of community service. 8 hours of the sentences is to be served attending a tobacco awareness class approved by the state. No matter what they must attend the class or do 12 hours of community service picking up cigarette butts, or doing stop smoking campaigns, etc.

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Thomas Moore
Director
Citrus County Teen Court
110 North Apopka Avenue
Inverness, FL 34450
Phone: (352) 637-9860
Fax: (352) 637-9857
teencourt@clerk.citrus.fl.us

The law in the State of Florida prohibits any person under the age of 18 yrs. to possess any tobacco product. Enforcement is via Juvenile Civil Citation. The juvenile anti-tobacco statute mandates 16 hours of community service or pay a $25.00 fine and attendance at an anti-tobacco program or seminar if available locally. Here in Citrus County, if a youthful offender opts for community service the matter is resolved in Teen Court. If the cited youth chooses to pay the fine (most do) the matter is handled by the Clerk of Court. In both incidences the offender must attend the Teen Court anti-tobacco segment of the court’s “Right Choice” program.

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