When a juvenile in the Sixth Judicial District is charged with an illegal act the one person they're absolutely certain to see is Juvenile Court Master Sam Matheny.
Whether a charge comes in the form of a citation from law enforcement, or either a delinquency petition or status petition from the District Attorney's office, every juvenile's first hearing is in front of the Juvenile Court Master.
A delinquency petition involves acts that would be considered a crime if committed by an adult. A status petition is for an infraction that is only a crime because of age - such as curfew violation, truancy, running away, or being incorrigible (refusal to obey parents).
Receiving either a citation or a petition means a juvenile and his or her parents will be contacted by the Sixth Judicial District juvenile department and a hearing will be scheduled fbefore the Juvenile Court Master.
The Sixth Judicial District covers Pershing, Humboldt, and Battle Mountain, so Matheny travels. He's based in Humboldt County, but has courtrooms in all three counties. (He's already doing some traveling anyway, because in addition to being Juvenile Court Master for all three counties, Matheny is also the adult Drug Court judge for Pershing County; he was the judge for Drug Court in Battle Mountain too.) He is in Pershing County and in Lander County at least once a week for hearings.
Matheny said the only time a juvenile who is charged with an illegal act is detained at the Juvenile Detention Center is when he or she is deemed a danger to themselver or a danger to the community - or if a parent can't be contacted. "Unless they're on probation, they're released to their parents and then they're scheduled to come to court at a later date," explained Matheny.
Although Juvenile Court Master Sam Mattheney's office is in the Juvenile Detention Center, he works directly under the supervision of the two Sixth Judicial District judges, Richard Wagner and Michael Montero. "They're my bosses and they have been for 28 years," said Matheny.
"If a kid comes to me and they don't like my decision, they can have a hearing in front of the district judges - if the judges choose to hear it," said Matheny. He explained that the judges can review the information about the case and determine whether they're willing to hear it or not.
When Matheny hears the juvenile cases, he has many program to choose from in determining what will most help a young person change direction, those options will be detailed in future Juvenile Justice articles in this series.
One major focus Matheny mentioned was education.
"I think this dept has really done well to help the kids we work with reach important educational goals," said Matheny. He added when young people don't reach the goal of high school graduation there are consequences. "If they don't have an eduction, it really sets them back," he commented. "Most kids who don't get their education when they're young end up with bills or a family to take care of and they don't have time to go back to school; sometimes they turn to other methods of making money that end them up in trouble."
Over the years there have been successes along with some tough situations. "I love my job," said Matheny. "It's been very rewarding. Sometimes you can
And there are the times that wrench a heart. "Sometimes with some kids you work really hard, you're committed to their success and you do what you can for them," Mattheney said, "Then you see their name in the paper for adult drug court and they were clean when they left; they seemed to be on the right road - it's hard."
Sometimes you don't know whether a kid got anything out of what we tried to do to help, said Mattheny, "Then there are times when you run into a kid you worked with and they thank you for the things you did; a lot of kids, when you see them again, they talk like we're old friends. Sometimes they come to me for advice with their own kids."
really help kids and families and sometimes they come back and talk to you."
With a career that's spanned decades, Matheny's work has been with several generations. "I've dealt with grandkids of kids I worked with years ago," he said.
"You get to see a lot of change in families and kids; you help them get an education and keep track of them."
Matheny acknowledged that having children and always doing the right thing is hard, "Sometimes families are having problems or they're busy and they don't push and supervise their kids as much as they should. "I have seen changes in families; lately they're busier working; economics are hard and both parents working, and too often the kids tend to be left alone without supervision."
Matheny has seen many changes in the court procedure over the years. He doesn't feel it's all positive. "The court has become more sophisticated, more results-focused," he commented. "I don't know if it's for the best; it's evolved a lot and it seems like it's taken away from being able to know the family as well; sometimes the law gets in the way of that."
"Some things you can't do because of the law and professional distance," he continued. "Sometimes I think we were able to solve a lot of problems because we could talk about things." Matheny said he's worried the process is getting away from getting to know the kid and the family so all the dynamics could be dealt with.
"Now the focus is more on the offense," he said, adding, "I hate to see that."
"I think you need to work at really gettting to know families," Matheny said. "Sometimes the court needs to step in and say look parents, here are some things that need to happen; sometimes I think we're able to solve a lot of problems that way - because we're able to talk about things."
Asked whether juvenile crimes have become more serious, Matheny said he feels the seriousness of crimes fluctuate. "The last 10 years there's been more meth involved," he commented. "I think meth is the worst drug, it does a lot of brain damage that never comes back; all drugs cause problems but as far as damaging forever, meth is the drug that does that. It changes personality and the ability to learn. It's the single worst thing I've seen, and parents are doing it too."
Matheny talked about why he doesn't think kids should ever use marijuana. "What I see with kids and marijuana is the non-motivation; it sets them back, they sit and play video games; they're not interested in school or activities." Now they're discovering it also causes certain kinds of brain damage; they're starting to talk like it's more damaging than just getting high."
Matheny is retiring after 34 years in the juvenile system, first as a juvenile detention worker, then Assistant Chief Juvenile Probation Officer and Juvenile Court Master.
The future of the Juvenile Court Master's job will soon be in someone else's hands; Matheny hopes it will be somebody who loves working with kids as much as he has.[[In-content Ad]]
