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New Administrative Judge For Juvenile Matters

Jaqueline Rabe Thomas/Connecticut Mirror

http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Jeff%20Cohen/2012_09_14_JC%20120730%20Wolven.mp3

Connecticut has a new judge in charge of its juvenile courts. As WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, Carol Wolven began the job earlier this month.

Before Carol Wolven was a lawyer, she was a nurse. And now that she's a judge, those nursing skills -- assessing a person's needs -- still come in handy when a child or a family come into her courtroom.

"Is this person under a lot of stress? Is that going to interfere with them getting better? Do they have someone to go home to that will give them chicken soup and ice cream for their tonsillitis? What's really going on? And I think that it's very similar to a child coming into the system."

Wolven has served as a state court judge since 2001. Earlier this month, she took over as the chief administrative judge of juvenile matters, replacing Judge Christine Keller. Wolven says its a job that includes a lot of people, a lot of moving parts, and one overriding goal.

"What we are doing is we're gathering all kinds of information and then the judge is making the decision in terms of what's in the best interest of the child. Truly, everyone has that interest at heart. And that is what in my mind sets it apart from other areas."

And to those who would say the juvenile system should be tougher on kids who cross the line? Here's what Wolven says.

"They are kids, they are not mature, they don't make good decisions, they don't understand the consequences of their actions, and we've got to treat them like kids. They cannot be held to an adult standard when their brains are not adult brains."

Wolven says one of her main jobs will be advising and assisting other judges assigned to the state's 12 juvenile courts, which handle both delinquency and child neglect cases.

For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.

Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.

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