McKechnie is an assistant district attorney in York County, Maine--a fast-growing county in a slow-growing state, and one that has made headlines for its overcrowded jail. The DA's office, however, has grown more gracefully, from six to a dozen attorneys during her 16 years there.

She began prosecuting in District Court, handling traffic cases and assaults, then moved to Superior Court, taking on more violent felonies. When the office was reorganizing two years ago, she was offered the chance to concentrate on juvenile cases, and has found her niche. Her own children, now ages 9 and 5, help provide perspective on her new job.

"You come into contact with kids before they've been shaped by the system," she said. "You can do more to fix the problem. By the time you're dealing with adults, most of the time, it's too late."

Maine has more resources to deal with youthful offenders than it did 15 years ago, when the state offered minimally supervised probation--the proverbial slap on the wrist--or confinement in the Maine Youth Center, a chronically understaffed institution (it has since closed.)

McKechnie says she's able to work with defense attorneys and the offender's family to come up with a plan that often can break the developing pattern of criminal behavior. "It's much less adversarial than you'd expect," she said. "Everyone has an interest in helping the kids involved."

The state, she said, "has really put the emphasis on rehabilitation. Of course, there's the risk that some of them can't be rehabilitated. I'm not sure they have an answer for that."

Her work has benefited from a new emphasis on timely processing of juvenile cases. "It used to be that the cases were grouped in the afternoon, after the adult cases were heard," she said. Often, there wasn't enough time, and police officers and DA's hadn't even gone over testimony in advance. Now, juvenile cases are heard on a separate day, cases are screened faster and the young people involved "are shown how we intend to prevent this behavior" in the future.

When deciding how to handle a case, she considers whether the behavior "is an aberration, where the kid hits his mother and she calls the police." At the other end, she sees older juveniles "where the system has nothing more to give them."

What works for kids in trouble? "Counseling can be tremendously helpful," she said, "if they're willing to do the work." One tough part of the job, she said, is dealing with victims. "People are so angry that they simply want to vent at the defendant. You can't really do what they want, but you can offer answers they can live with."

Though her father, Stephen Perkins, was a Maine Superior Court judge, "he was amazed" when his daughter decided to go to law school, McKechnie said. And indeed, her first choice of career was much different. After graduating from Colby as a history major, she decided to try hotel management and after working in a variety of positions found herself in middle management. It was an uncomfortable fit. "The way you succeed in the hospitality business is to figure out how to cut costs by using fewer people in the service positions," she said. "But my sympathies were with the people who do the work." Deciding to switch career tracks, McKechnie took a paralegal course, had a good experience interning in her native Maine and applied to law school, attending Franklin Pierce in New Hampshire. When she graduated--and passed the bar exam on her first try--she decided against private practice, figuring that a prosecutor's office would provide more structure and definition.

She credits Colby with preparing her to study law. When she arrived on campus, "they were telling us to focus on graduate school. I wanted to be able to go out and get a job. But then, five years later, there I was, enrolling in law school. In my case, they were right."

--- Douglas Rooks '76