Latest / Brian Thomas / Susan Luken for Juvenile Court

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Susan Luken for Juvenile Court · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Station seven forty Here fifty five KCD talk station byan
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  Speaker 1: Thomas Witsching. Here won't a very happy Friday. Even an
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  Speaker 1: that Guy scot should be a fun conversation. The follow
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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Morning Show if she can come
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  Speaker 1: on every day for all I'm concerned. Lucan for Juvenile
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  Speaker 1: Court dot COM's website, Welcome back to the Morning Show,
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  Speaker 1: Susan Lucan. We could all sure use Susan Lucan on
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  Speaker 1: the bench at Juvenile Court considering where we are right now.
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  Speaker 1: It's good to have you back on the show.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Brian, thanks for having me. It's great
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  Speaker 2: to be back.
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  Speaker 1: You were appointed as magistrate to the Assistant Court Administer
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  Speaker 1: at the Hamilton County Probate Court in twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: I know you've got decades of service and just an amazing,
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  Speaker 1: amazing background and experience you certainly are capable of being
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  Speaker 1: on the bench, and Kurt currently and certainly worthy of
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  Speaker 1: being a juvenile court judge. What's motivating you to want
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  Speaker 1: to be on the juvenile Court bench? Judge?
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  Speaker 2: So you know, I actually was, as as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: I currently am a magistrate with Hamilton County Probate Court
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  Speaker 2: and in that role I do the mental health stocket
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  Speaker 2: and I also do adoptions and I was a mental
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  Speaker 2: I was. I'm sorry, I was a juvenile court judge
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  Speaker 2: actually twice in the past, all the way back to
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  Speaker 2: twenty eleven and then as recently as twenty twenty when
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  Speaker 2: I worked for Judge Melissa Powers. So I know what
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  Speaker 2: juvenile court can be like. I know what it was
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  Speaker 2: like when it was a model court, and then I
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  Speaker 2: saw what it started to become under the current judge,
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  Speaker 2: Carrie Bloom and she's now she became the administrative judge
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, and I see how it's changed
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  Speaker 2: and what it's become. And you know, it's really just
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  Speaker 2: taken a turn in twenty twenty and we've talked about
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  Speaker 2: this before. You know, the bench really changed with all
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  Speaker 2: of these really liberal democratic judges that have come on
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  Speaker 2: and you know, so many things have gone on and
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  Speaker 2: it's really taken a turn for the worst, and there's
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  Speaker 2: so many things that need to change, and they are
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  Speaker 2: really two primary goals, and we've got to stop the
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  Speaker 2: revolving door on juvenile crime. And the second thing, too,
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  Speaker 2: is one of the things that Judge Winkler and I see.
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  Speaker 2: So Judge Winkler is my boss. He's the probate judge.
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  Speaker 2: You'll see him on the ballot is Ralph Winkler, and
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  Speaker 2: he goes by ted. He does an amazing job as
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  Speaker 2: the probate judge and he's going to be on the
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  Speaker 2: ballot this year too. And so one of the things
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  Speaker 2: that we see and he really sees because he's been
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  Speaker 2: on the bench for many years, but he's been the
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  Speaker 2: probate judge since twenty fourteen, so he is a wealth
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  Speaker 2: of experience and he really sees this because he has
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  Speaker 2: that knowledge base. But what he's seeing in particular is
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  Speaker 2: that we're seeing adoptions that are being held up sometimes
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  Speaker 2: for up to six years. And what's interesting is the
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  Speaker 2: Children's Services Levy is going to be on the ballot
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  Speaker 2: this year, okay, And in cases start off in juvenal
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  Speaker 2: court is Foster cases right, and those cases are being
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  Speaker 2: held up. And this we're really seeing a delaycense twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty three. We're seeing cases that are there for sometimes
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  Speaker 2: six years.
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  Speaker 1: Why for the.
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  Speaker 2: Last three for the for the last three years, there's
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  Speaker 2: been such a turnover in juvenile court because people were
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  Speaker 2: fired and they hired new magistrates. I had an adoption
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  Speaker 2: that was held up because it was held up in
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  Speaker 2: the Court of Appeals twice because the magistrate got the
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  Speaker 2: law wrong. And sometimes they're being held up because children
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  Speaker 2: are being reunified with families that they shouldn't go back
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  Speaker 2: to where they were abused and neglected. And so, you know,
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  Speaker 2: just like there's a preference for defendants in criminal cases,
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  Speaker 2: there seems to be a preference for these families where
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  Speaker 2: children are being abused and neglected. And so you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's one of the reasons. You know, we work really
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  Speaker 2: hard in private court to create these forever families, to
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  Speaker 2: create safe and stable homes for families, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's one of the reasons why you know, I want
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  Speaker 2: to go back to juvenile court to make that better.
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  Speaker 2: Same thing on the criminal side too. You know, we've
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  Speaker 2: got to do better for these young people. And you
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  Speaker 2: and I have talked about this. You know, if we
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  Speaker 2: use detention as an intervention, we can maybe stop this
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  Speaker 2: cycle for these young people who are becoming adult criminals
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  Speaker 2: and who will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, we've got to use the right interventions.
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  Speaker 2: We have to use you know, the right risk based interventions.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, there's just a real difference between these
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  Speaker 2: youth offenders who are repeat violent offenders, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: they're not being handled the way that they should be
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  Speaker 2: in the juvenile system. Detension isn't being used appropriately, They're
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  Speaker 2: not being held. You know, Ken Kober, our FOP president,
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  Speaker 2: has talked about this. They have begged the juvenile court, hey,
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  Speaker 2: just do something about the repeat violent offenders. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: so those are two of the really big issues that
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  Speaker 2: I'm saying, is the revolving door in juvenile crime and
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  Speaker 2: something about these these really serious youth offenders. And we're
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  Speaker 2: seeing this case, you know, this really serious issue developed
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  Speaker 2: that's developed with these you know, the foster two adopt cases.
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  Speaker 2: This just delay in cases. I was just in an
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  Speaker 2: event last night, and you know, the Republican Party is
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  Speaker 2: really working hard to get the base out because what
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  Speaker 2: we really need to do is get the base out
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  Speaker 2: to vote. And I met a man and he was
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  Speaker 2: talking to me about how frustrated he was because it
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  Speaker 2: took him four years to get justice for his grandson.
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  Speaker 2: And I asked him what happened, and this was in
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  Speaker 2: the court of common please okay, And I asked what
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  Speaker 2: the case was about. His grandson had been murdered. And
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  Speaker 2: I asked who the judge was and he told me
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  Speaker 2: who it was. And this was a judge who also
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  Speaker 2: was a juvenile court public defender. Terry Bloom was a
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  Speaker 2: juvenile court public defender. And I think what we're seeing
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  Speaker 2: is there's just an ideology, right, there's just sort of
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  Speaker 2: think a way of thinking that there's a favoritism. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely believe in due process, right, Yes, we all
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  Speaker 2: have to because it protects all of us. But there's
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  Speaker 2: not a balance in the scales of justice anymore. And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that's something that we've got to change.
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  Speaker 1: Now. Is this a question of individual you know, I'll
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  Speaker 1: just abaus just put a broad brush approach to woke
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  Speaker 1: judges who favor the criminals rather than the aggrieved or
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  Speaker 1: harmed individuals or the society generally speaking, they favor, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the parents who are obviously dangerous in these adoption proceedings.
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  Speaker 1: Is this a policy established, like does Kerry Bloom establish
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  Speaker 1: a policy that the judges follow or is just simply
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  Speaker 1: a question of voting out these these left leaning mindset
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  Speaker 1: progressive if I may judges, would a change if Carrie
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  Speaker 1: Bloom was out of the equation and a more conservative minded,
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  Speaker 1: justice minded judge was sitting there in their place, Would
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  Speaker 1: that change the dynamic with the other judge in how
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  Speaker 1: they treat cases each by on a case by case basis?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yes, Oh wow, absolutely there are So there are
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  Speaker 2: two judges in juvenle Court. One is a Republican and
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  Speaker 2: the other is a very liberal Democrat. And that liberal Democrat,
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  Speaker 2: because of seniority, she is the administrative judge and she
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  Speaker 2: sets the policy for the court. And that is my opponent.
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  Speaker 2: And if we prevail in November, and I really believe
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  Speaker 2: that we will, we can change the policy of that court.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, we can take that court in a
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  Speaker 2: very different direction, in a lot of different ways. And
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  Speaker 2: it's really important too, because juvenile Court isn't just a court.
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  Speaker 2: It operates the detention center, It operates the clerk's office.
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  Speaker 2: They are reopening Hillcrest after its staff for three years.
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  Speaker 2: You know, she promised to reopen it and it's just
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  Speaker 2: now reopening. There are a lot of issues around that too,
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  Speaker 2: and that's something that we can talk about another day.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, as I said, but you know, juneral
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  Speaker 2: court has an impact on a lot of different things,
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  Speaker 2: including the amount of time. If those cases aren't moving,
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  Speaker 2: if those neglect and abuse cases aren't moving, that directly
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  Speaker 2: impacts how much time children spend it's called in care
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  Speaker 2: and foster care. That impacts the cost of the children's
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  Speaker 2: services levee. And so we really have to look at
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  Speaker 2: things like that and hold our public officials accountable. That
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  Speaker 2: cost of that children's services levee is going to be
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  Speaker 2: really expensive. And I'm not saying that that isn't something
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  Speaker 2: that people should or shouldn't do, okay, because we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about the most vulnerable kids in our society. But those
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  Speaker 2: are things that we really need to look at.
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  Speaker 1: I share your concerns, Judge Lucan. Susan Lucan, who's on
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  Speaker 1: the program this morning, absolutely demonstrably and outstanding judge, and
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  Speaker 1: of course certainly a far better option than Carrie Bloom,
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  Speaker 1: who has demonstrated that she just does not care about
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  Speaker 1: the criminal justice system or basically the citizens of the county,
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  Speaker 1: giving her soft on crime reality and certainly setting the
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  Speaker 1: stage for juvenile criminals to become adult criminals. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what we got to really nip in the bud there.
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  Speaker 1: It starts when you're a juvenile.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: The other components said that these these foster care cases
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  Speaker 1: and these these forever home cases are taking so long
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  Speaker 1: that child or those children are living in a state
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  Speaker 1: of limbo. They have to have a sense of awareness
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  Speaker 1: that foster is temporary and that sometime down the road,
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  Speaker 1: a judge's either going to send them back to the
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  Speaker 1: horror show that they came from, or they're going to
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  Speaker 1: end up with some family that they're going to have
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  Speaker 1: to get to know from scratch, so that that can
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  Speaker 1: create long term problems for that child.
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  Speaker 2: I have to imagine exactly it creates. It creates mental
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  Speaker 2: health issues, It creates behavioral issues, all of which need
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  Speaker 2: to be addressed in the system, and that gets very
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  Speaker 2: expensive from a mental health standpoint, and you know that
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  Speaker 2: increased cost of care that's so detrimental to these children
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  Speaker 2: and We've had so many complaints in probate court from
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  Speaker 2: foster families like what is going on? What can be done?
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, so it's just so there are just so
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  Speaker 2: many different issues and so many different problems that are
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  Speaker 2: going on right now. In juvenile court. There's so much
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  Speaker 2: attention on the delinquency side, you know, and on the
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  Speaker 2: youth of under side, because it's a really serious problem,
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  Speaker 2: right and you know, but the problem is really mult
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's a multi dimensional. And so when you
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  Speaker 2: ask why am I doing this? I see different perspectives
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  Speaker 2: and and there's so many different reasons why it's so
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  Speaker 2: important that we make a change there. And there are
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  Speaker 2: so many things that I want to do to bring
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  Speaker 2: back and take it back to the court that it
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  Speaker 2: once was, and it really was. Judge Lips is a
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  Speaker 2: wonderful judge. He's been to some of my events, and
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  Speaker 2: he and judges like Judge Carla Grady and Judge Powers
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  Speaker 2: who were there, you know, they did so much and
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  Speaker 2: we're so passionate about that court and it touches children's
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  Speaker 2: lives and families lives in such a way. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's tragic when you have to go there, but it
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  Speaker 2: is so important the work that it does, that you know,
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  Speaker 2: this really is an important race. And I appreciate your
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  Speaker 2: listeners paying attention to this, and I appreciate their support,
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  Speaker 2: and I just encourage them to go to the website
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  Speaker 2: take a look, and I really thank them for thinking
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  Speaker 2: about this.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll encourage them to click the donate button too
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  Speaker 1: if they're so inclined, or at least get a yard sign.
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  Speaker 2: It's yeah, get a yard volunteer. I mean, we can
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  Speaker 2: use help.
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  Speaker 1: Any kind of help, any form, a little bit, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of help. And absolutely tripling down on that one
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  Speaker 1: over the past week. I cortantly vote, get out and
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  Speaker 1: vote it's