The News Democrat recently spoke to Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Danny Bubp, Court Administrator Charles Ashmore and Brown County Prosecutor Zac Corbin about the numbers and how they are affecting the court system in Brown County and local society in general.
Each of them agree that at least 80 percent of juvenile court cases are caused by the opioid epidemic that is gripping Ohio.
“I’m almost to the point where I feel like we have a lost generation. We need to focus on elementary schools and begin to instill a sense of danger about what young kids are going to be facing as they grow up,” said Ashmore.
“Our resources are strained. You hear in the adult system that you can’t incarcerate your way out of the drug problem. We can’t do it in the juvenile system either.”
Ashmore said that the budget line item set aside to pay for juvenile incarceration is expected to be exceeded by $64,761 by the end of this year.