NEW JUVENILE CENTER COMBINES SERVICES

Nationwide, juvenile crime rates have surged in recent years. Unfortunately, the types of crimes these young people commit are becoming more violent and gruesome.

Like many other counties, Cape Girardeau has outgrown its juvenile detention center built in the 1970s. The county is looking to build a state-of-art facility that will unify scattered juvenile services. The new facility is certainly long overdue. The current center is so small that only those juveniles charged with serious felonies can be held there. That's dangerous to the community and burdensome for juvenile authorities.

Perhaps the best news about this project is that local taxpayers won't feel a tug on their pocketbooks. That's significant considering the price tag will run $2.5 million to $3 million.

The funding can be credited to the foresight of the Missouri Legislature. House Bill 971, which was signed into law earlier this year, transfers juvenile justice employees from county to state payrolls. The law also requires counties to use the money currently allocated for those salaries for other juvenile justice purposes, including building or upgrading facilities.

The current juvenile detention center sits in the middle of a residential area in Cape Girardeau. County officials are smart to look at a non-residential area for the expanded facility. The site -- which has earned Planning and Zoning Commission approval -- is in a largely industrial area off South Kingshighway. The City Council will consider the special-use permit later this month.

The new facility could accommodate up to 40 youth offenders ages 12 to 17 from Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties. The three counties share the costs for the juvenile operations based on population.

Only those juveniles awaiting court hearings will be housed at the center -- not those convicted. The plans call for providing space for on-site court hearings, which makes perfect sense. Bringing the judge to the center would certainly reduce security and transportation problems.

Juvenile officials hope to add services such as an alternative school. The current alternative school serves dropouts. This new center would enroll those students expelled or suspended from school under the Safe Schools Act, as well as students who have committed a criminal offense.