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11/09/2008
By ERIN MATHEWS - Salina Journal
Salina South senior Brooke Smith was ashamed when she stood before a judge in Saline County District Court early this year to make a first appearance on a felony charge for a sex offense.
Recently, when she recreated the scene with cameras rolling, she occasionally had to be reminded not to smile.
"Great! OK, let's do that again," said videographer Jeff Piepho, of Piepho Multimedia, Salina. "Say it loudly, clearly and slowly."
When parents and teens participating in a juvenile sexual diversion program decided to make a video to educate the public about laws pertaining to sexually active teens whose partners are younger than 16, Smith made a suggestion.
She said she wanted the nearly 20-minute documentary-style video to show a teen brought to court to hear charges read. To be true to life, this person should be wearing a jail inmate's orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, and she volunteered to do it herself.
"I want other kids to learn about it so hopefully they will think it through and not do it," she said.
Vera Johnson, executive director of New Start Family Life Skills Center, a nonprofit agency at 1125 W. South, is the founder of the diversion program called HEART, which stands for Healthy Education on Age-appropriate Relationships and Temptations. So far, nine teens from Saline County have participated in the program, which was launched in January.
She said she is proud of what Smith is doing, describing her as the "bravest kid I know."
The parents involved in HEART decided to make the video in an effort to keep other teens from facing sexual offense charges by educating them about laws related to voluntary sexual activity between teens. They hope to show the video in sex education classes and to parent groups to help other teens make better choices and avoid prosecution.
Ultimately, the group of parents, who have organized into Empowered Parents Ignited, hope to show the video to legislators and advocate for changes in the law. They want the circumstances of each case to be assessed to protect teens caught experimenting with adolescent sexual behavior from being labeled as sex offenders.
Arrested for 'making out'
Teens participating in HEART had nonforcible sexual contact with a partner who was at least 14 years old but not yet 16. Before the diversion program became available, older teens caught in a voluntary sexual encounter with a younger partner ended up with a felony sex offense conviction, said Jaime Blackwell, assistant Saline County attorney.
She anticipates her office will see about 20 kids a year who will qualify for the program.
A slight age difference between dating teens -- even if they are in the same grade -- could mean a felony charge for the one older than 16 if the other was not yet 16, the legal age of consent in Kansas. Two 14- or 15-year-olds caught together could both face charges.
And that's not just for teens who had sex. Lewd fondling, defined in Kansas statute as touching with the intent to arouse or satisfy sexual desires, also leads to a felony charge.
"If it (sexual activity) comes to the attention of law enforcement, they have a duty to enforce," Blackwell said. "Hopefully, with this program, we can use education instead of punishment."
Blackwell approached Johnson, a psychiatric nurse who has had success working with teens at risk of dropping out of school, about starting the juvenile sexual diversion program.
A $3,000 grant from Salina Area United Way provided the necessary start-up funding.
"Jaime Blackwell has a very big heart for these kids," Johnson said. "She didn't want to see them stuck with felonies."
Salina Deputy Police Chief Carson Mansfield said if an underage teen is found to have been involved in a sexual encounter, school officials or employees of public agencies are obligated to report, and police are sworn to enforce the law.
Lewd fondling, what many people would refer to as "making out," could result in a felony charge of indecent liberties with a child or unlawful voluntary sexual relations for a teen older than 16 who is no more than four years older than their underage partner. Nonforcible sexual intercourse or sodomy with a 14 or 15 year old would result in felony charges of aggravated indecent liberties, unlawful voluntary sexual relations or criminal sodomy.
It's a scary thing
"They're checking each other out at this stage of life," said Angie Cartwright, president of Empowered Parents Ignited. "I warned my 15-year-old daughter, 'You can get a young man in trouble.' It's a scary thing as a parent."
She said the Empowered Parents group is still seeking answers to their questions about exactly what behaviors would land a teen in the juvenile detention center.
Facing charges for a sexual offense leaves teens with a lowered self-esteem, which is part of what the HEART program is designed to address, Johnson said.
The curriculum is based largely on work by Dr. Paul Hegstrom, author of "Angry Men and the Women Who Love Them," and founder/developer of the Life Skills International Program. It would be good for any teen whose sexual behaviors are putting them at risk, Johnson said.
"We work through the shame issues because these kids feel like they are deviant juvenile sex offenders," she said. "We say, 'You're not a deviant juvenile sex offender. You are a child with hormones that are raging, and you have broken the law.' "
In a society that seems almost more afraid of sex offenders than murderers, being labeled a sex offender carries a life-changing stigma, she said.
"We're trying to empower kids to come out of the shame and heal them," she said.
In an effort to ensure that other families do not unknowingly face the same ordeal, the parents in Empowered Parents Ignited decided to make the video, which they hope to have ready for showing by early December. To make arrangements to view the video, visit
www.EmpoweredParentsIgnited.org or call the New Start Family Life Skills Center at
827-2800.
Parents and the video cast gathered in Courtroom 308 to begin filming Oct. 21. Smith wore a Halloween costume of a jail inmate, but Shawn Baltazor, a community volunteer who portrayed the judge, borrowed District Judge Jerome Hellmer's actual robe.
"I'm all for helping with anything that's going to give a kid a chance," Baltazor said.
Sex with her boyfriend
Smith heard her actual charges read again in the fake court set up for the video. Twice in December 2007, Smith, then 16, had unlawfully had voluntary sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy, a felony offense. Smith tried to recreate for the camera the fear and shame she felt when she stood in court and heard the charges read for real.
"The main thing Brooke wanted to get across to the kids is how this will impact their life so that they will pay attention to the rest of what we have to say," Johnson said.
Kristi Brin, Smith's mother, said her daughter had been arrested after she approached school officials to stop the boy she had intercourse with from showing friends a video of their encounter filmed without her knowledge.
No video was ever located, but because of their age difference, Smith ended up being charged with a felony.
Brin said participating in HEART has enabled both her and her daughter to turn a bad experience into something positive.
"We're to the point we can actually say this wasn't such a bad thing looking at all we've learned from it," Brin said. "I cannot say enough about the HEART program. It has made my daughter a stronger person. We recognize that everyone makes mistakes, and it's given her the skills to make better choices in the future."
Because completing the diversion program will prevent her from having a felony record, Smith will be able to pursue her plans of becoming an Air Force nurse after she graduates high school in December.
As mad as mad gets
Brin is among the group of parents drawn together because they were required to attend the diversion program with their children. Salina's program is the only one of its kind in the state to require parent involvement, and at first the parents were less than thrilled to be there.
Cartwright was initially about as mad as mad gets.
Her 16-year-old son had been caught making out in his car with a 14-year-old girl in a business parking lot. He had been kissing the girl and touching her breasts when a policeman found them. The boy, who had never been in trouble before, spent the weekend in the juvenile detention center and made his first appearance in court in an orange jumpsuit, shackles and handcuffs.
And now, Cartwright was stuck in a parent class for the next 12 weeks so that he -- who was little more than a child himself -- wouldn't end up with a felony for unlawful voluntary sexual relations with a child.
The girl had told him she was 16, she said. The girl and her parents both said they did not want to press charges, but because the girl was younger than 16, the state pursued prosecution.
"Parents can't step in and say, 'Wait a second. These two have been dating. No harm, no foul,' " Cartwright said.
Cartwright felt like the criminal justice system was treating her son like a sexual predator.
"I was really upset," she said. "I said I really see a problem here. There's a big difference between a predator and a child who is being a kid."
She wasn't alone in her anger. None of the parents in the class were happy to be there. When Johnson sought their comments after the first session, they let her know exactly how they felt.
"At the very end of the first class, she had us fill out a feedback form, and our pens were smoking," Cartwright said.
Had to involve parents
Johnson said she knew parents wouldn't be pleased that their attendance was required.
"The first night I just let them vent at me," she said. "They were saying they couldn't believe they were there when their kids were the ones who got in trouble."
But Johnson said she knew if the teens involved in HEART were going to learn to make better choices, their parents had to be involved in the process.
"A lot of parents will drop off their kids and say, 'They're broke. Here, fix them,' " she said. "You can't make a difference in the home unless the environment changes, and you can't change the environment unless the parents are on board."
Johnson gave the parents a challenge.
"I said you can take that angry feeling and do nothing but be bitter and upset, or you can use it to be productive and become better communicators," she said.
After about four weeks of HEART, the parents were ready to turn their anger into fuel for change.
"We wanted to take our anger and be productive and help people from falling through the cracks in our system," Brin said. "I don't think the law is wrong. It needs to be out there to protect children who are abused and taken advantage of, but something needs to be put in there to protect these teens."
We just didn't know
Parents said many of their friends were not aware of the legal ramifications for teens who get caught engaging in physical contact with a peer who is not yet 16.
"The parents were saying, 'If we'd have known, we could have taught our children differently,' " Johnson said. "'If our kids would have known, they could have made better choices.' They don't want anyone else's kids going through what their kids went through."
At the suggestion of Bill Weaver, director of marketing for United Way, the group decided to produce the video to use in presentations to parent groups, sex education classes and anyone else who will listen. Weaver also helped the group with designs for educational posters.
Johnson said she has seen the HEART program become a "birthing room for community leaders."
"It's going to be amazing to see what these parents do," she said.
Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by e-mail at
emathews@salina.com.
