TJJD News & Announcements

GAINESVILLE, Texas – High School youth from the Denton Police Youth Summer Program, along with four Denton Police Officers, enjoyed a tour of the Gainesville State School in July. The School Resource Officers hand select students from the assigned campuses. There are middle school, high school, and girls programs that have been operating since 2010. Officer Keith Adams who coordinates the tours each year states, “I am involved because I want to continue to help make positive changes in kids’ lives. There is no greater feeling than to be in the position to open up a kid’s imagination, keep them out of harm’s way, and steer them in the right direction.” While on campus, youth see what a dorm looks like, hear from young residents, tour the security unit, and see campus life. When asked why he chooses to bring youth to the Gainesville State School, Officer Adams replied, “I felt that the facility would provide the kids with the opportunity to see what the inside of a confined facili...

By Daniel Burgess, Staff Writer DENTON, Texas – A new specialty court directed at juveniles with mental illnesses who are at higher risk of committing another crime is seeking to help young offenders and their families and to protect the public from crime. Denton County Court at Law No. 1 Judge Kimberly McCary, along with staff at the Juvenile Probation Department, described the new juvenile mental health court, called Soar, at a presentation Thursday night at Emily Fowler Central Library in Denton. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Denton County hosted the presentation. The county is calling the program Soar, but McCary said it’s not an acronym — it means whatever the kids believe it means. The court itself is an intensive, phased six-month program that places a high level of accountability on the juvenile participants. It provides access to outside counseling and therapy to those who could not otherwise afford it and ensures the parents are part of the child’s rehabilit...