Long before becoming a judge, some 20 years plus, Judge Thomas People’s developed an interest as far as the laws involving children. First, in private practice, he represented a number of children in juvenile court. Later, as Assistant District Attorney, then elected District Attorney of Blair County, People’s became involved in the prosecution of abuse, misuse, and neglect of children. Coming to the bench in 1980, Judge People says, “I very quickly developed an intense interest in juvenile court and other branches of court that impact children.”
Besides being President Judge, People’s was quite modest in relaying his other current involvements involving children. He is a Board member of the Child’s Advocates Organization in Blair County, which sponsors the Head Start program. People’s also oversees all operations of the juvenile probation department and under his supervision has expanded drastically positively, People’s stating, “I am quite comfortable in saying our juvenile probation office and the department today is recognized statewide by all of their peers, in 66 other counties, as being at the forefront in development of new programs, developmental programs that work for the benefit of the child.”
Judge People’s has a significant point, “People have to understand the philosophy of the juvenile court. In adult criminal court, the caption tells it all; it’s always the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs ‘John Smith, defendant.’ In juvenile court, the caption of the case says, in the interest of, and then the name of the child. There is no vs. There’s no combative situation…The juvenile is the child who is there to be hopefully helped by the intervention.”
Judge People’s is also very aware of situations juveniles are faced with today.
“I don’t think there’s a judge alive in this state, or probably also the United States, today who deals in juvenile court matters, who isn’t concerned about the prevalence of drugs and the prevalence of alcohol,” said Peoples. Alcohol prohibition for those under 21 is at least in some control. People’s doesn’t feel the same when it comes to drugs.
“Drugs are unfettered,” said Peoples. “I am firmly of the opinion that there is a serious threat to young people in our county to become exposed to people who deal drugs. That is the threat statewide. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t have, for instance, statutes, that today, enlarge the penalty and make it greater for dealing within so many yards of a school.”
“There’s certainly an increase in violence-related occurences…I am including rape and assaults.
While Judge People’s could offer no further comment about either the Bender case or the Stevenson case, he firmly believes to hear all sides of the cases throughly and with an unbiased opinion.
“Our assigned duty under the law of this Commonwealth is to protect the interest of the child,” the Peoples concluded.
