When a weed-loving teen returned to Cheyenne’s Youth Alternatives as an adult looking to become a volunteer, Director Ronn Jeffrey took the opportunity to “go fishing” for a success story about the organization’s impact on young people.
Opinion
“What happened to make you change?” Jeffrey asked.
The man’s response wasn’t a testimonial about how well the program worked, but it did something even more valuable. It confirmed a belief about the juvenile justice system that the director had held since starting Youth Alternatives in 1971: What works to keep teens out of trouble is much different than for adults.
“I loved smoking dope,” the potential mentor to a new generation told Jeffrey. “If I lit up a joint right now, I’d be happy. You used to tell me how bad it was for me, but that went in one ear and out the other. Half the time I was listening to you, I was stoned.”
So, if it wasn’t sage advice from a respected adult, what did make him give up marijuana? “It was a girl,” Jeffrey said. “She was much more important than anything I could have said to him. She told him, ‘You can have me or have the dope, but you can’t have both.’”
It’s a lesson that has served Jeffrey well, especially after he was appointed Cheyenne Municipal Court’s juvenile judge in 2006. I’ve known him since the 1970s, when I wrote articles about Youth Alternatives as a Wyoming State Tribune reporter. I interviewed the 75-year-old Jeffrey again recently after he retired as a judge and learned more about his career and how he intends to keep working to help his community’s children.
“We must find out what motivates kids to want to change their behavior,” he said. “One of the things that’s wrong with the juvenile justice system is that it tries to adjust the adult system and make it work for kids. But the brain development of a child at 16 is very different from an adult’s way of looking at life.”
An adult would obviously be highly worried about anything that might jeopardize his or her freedom, like going to jail, Jeffrey said. But adolescents may be more concerned about peer pressure and what happens when they don’t fit in.
Jeffrey has long viewed the courts as a last resort for troubled youth, though he sees his former judicial role as an essential way to hold them accountable for their actions.
“The more our system is punishment-driven, what you’re basically doing is teaching kids how to be criminals,” Jeffrey said.
There are several programs throughout the country that focus on trying to scare kids into leading law-abiding lives. Jeffrey said they don’t work because “you can’t scare kids straight.”
It’s easy to see how Jeffrey — a man with a deep voice and towering stature — could strike abject fear into the heart of a young offender, especially in his judge’s robe. But punitive approaches taken in courtrooms, jails or classrooms don’t stick, he said. Most teens don’t feel threatened as soon as they leave that environment.
Jeffrey started in Cheyenne’s juvenile probation office, but soon transformed it into Youth Alternatives and changed the focus to counseling, court services and volunteer mentoring. The program saw 300 to 400 kids per year and has helped several generations of Cheyenne residents.
After a few years of suggesting that I volunteer as a mentor to see what the experience was like, Jeffrey wore me down in the early 1980s, and I signed up. It was everything he prepared me for: The challenge of developing rapport with a 15-year-old boy, meeting with his family and talking about the problems that brought him to Youth Alternatives.
We soon developed a weekly routine: See a movie, get something to eat, or just take a walk and talk. During Cheyenne Frontier Days, the program gave us tickets to the rodeo. I knew very little about cars, but my mentee did, and he got mine running several times. I paid him by giving him my 8-track tape collection; I definitely got the better of the bargain.
That’s how I viewed the entire experience. I think I got more out of it than he did, and being able to ask Jeffrey and the staff questions when I was stumped about issues I felt unprepared to address made me realize that it really does take a village to raise a child.
“It’s amazing what kind of a difference it makes when you get everybody involved,” Jeffrey said. “It’s important to make kids understand that everyone wants them to succeed. But they have to do more work themselves because if they don’t work to change, it’s not going to happen.”
Jeffrey said one of the things that’s helped the program be successful is its reliance on volunteers, because children know that the adults aren’t getting paid and are just there to help them.
Initially, Jeffrey’s office only saw kids who were referred by the courts, but he believed “it was important that we not just have this isolated group of kids who were in trouble.” Soon, the program took referrals from schools, neighbors, parents and anyone who knew a child who might benefit from the services.
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins has one last assignment for Jeffrey after his retirement. He’s leading a new volunteer group with representatives from law enforcement, prosecutors, judges and local officials to examine the best juvenile justice practices here and in other communities. The group will review juvenile ordinances and make recommendations to the city council, which can codify any new solutions.
“We truly just want to take [Jeffrey’s] energy and his knowledge, and see if he can help us set ourselves up for the future,” Collins said.
Jeffrey said he’s looking forward to his new role, particularly because as a judge he could only enforce local ordinances, not advocate for changes.
This may be billed as Jeffrey’s “final” job in juvenile justice, but I’m not buying it for a second. So long as kids need help, Jeffrey will be there tackling the problem. It’s in his blood, and it’s who he is.
Drake always finds a way to present new perspectives on life in Wyoming.
And thank you to Ron Jeffrey for his work. He has served all of us.
It is stories like this that make me feel better in today’s times. There still is good in the world. We just gotta find it.
A wonderful man and a valuable asset for Wyoming!