REENTRY INCORPORATED

Reentry, Inc. is a non-profit agency that works with the Criminal Justice System in Wake County, NC. The agency provides two programs to Wake County. The Pretrial Services Program works with just-arrested defendants in the adult criminal system. Currently this includes defendants who are 16 years of age or older but the State of North Carolina will soon be raising the juvenile age to 18 years old except for 16 and 17 year olds who are charged with certain felony charges. The Pretrial Services program screens certain defendants to see if they might be eligible to be released into the custody of the Pretrial Program in lieu of posting a monetary bond. Defendants are required to make weekly call-ins to a Case Manger, attend all court dates, remain arrest-free and follow any special conditions of release that the Court may impose (curfew, no-contact orders, substance abuse assessments, etc.). The Pretrial Services Program frees up needed jail space so that dangerous defendants and offenders can be housed. The Capital Area Teen Court Program works with youth ages 17 and under who are charged with a first time misdemeanor charge. Referrals to the program are made by juvenile court counselors, school resource officers, county and city police, mall police and loss prevention agents of retail businesses. Defendants have to accept responsibility for their actions in order to participate in the program. Capital Area Teen Court utilizes trained youth volunteers from local schools and from previous offenders who have successfully completed the program. The bailiff, the jury, the prosecution and the defense are all trained youth. The judge is either a real judge or an attorney. The jury decides the defendant's "punishment" from 3 levels of sanctions. Sanctions may include community service work, participating as a juror, restitution and/or attending a "skills" education class. Once a sanction is imposed, the Teen Court staff monitor and assist the youth with completing the sanction. Once the youth completes all sanctions (usually within a 3 month period) the case is dismissed. *The website for the Capital Area Teen Court Program (capitalareateencourt.org) is currently being redone. For more information about the Teen Court Program or the Pretrial Services Program, email the Reentry, Inc. Executive Director, Chuck Johnson, at chuckjohnson@wakegov.com or call him at 919-856-5273.