JUVENILE SYSTEM EARNS PRAISE

Although there are frustrating moments, Cape Girardeau County Juvenile officer Randy Rhodes said he has seen enough success in the last few years to feel like he is accomplishing something.

"We're seeing a good percentage of kids come in the first time and not become repeat offenders," Rhodes said.

Rhodes said that out of 1400 juvenile offenders last year only 350 became court cases.

Cape Girardeau Division I Circuit Court Judge Bill Syler said the juvenile system works well enough that he is concerned, but not alarmed, by the 23.5 percent increase in juvenile crime in the past three years.

"We're still not seeing the kind of violent crime you see in a bigger city," Syler said. "One of the reasons why I feel like it is still under control is the kind of city we're in and the people who work here."

Both Rhodes and Syler have witnessed an increase in drug and weapon-related juvenile cases in the past few years. "It seems like even smaller towns are emulating big-city problems to some degree, but I don't think it's anywhere near what it would be like in St. Louis or Kansas City," Rhodes said.

Rhodes estimated that the number of cases in which an offender was deemed certifiable as an adult in the past year was "about 10." A certifiable juvenile is someone who has exhausted the detention system and has shown virtually no signs of rehabilitation. Syler has dealt with three certification cases in 1994.

Syler said he thinks the influx of gangs hasn't reached the point of being a serious problem. "I think the job the Cape Girardeau Police Department and Sheriff's Department along with the Juvenile office is the reason it won't get out of control," he said.