Pre-adjudication Team (PAT)
The Pre-adjudication Team (PAT) provides intensive supervision to juvenile offenders who can be released from detention to await their court date. This team ensures that the Detention Center has beds available for serious offenders who must be detained. Experienced officers work extended hours every day to monitor juveniles who are awaiting court. During 2005, the team handled 265 cases with considerable savings in bed space and associated care in the Juvenile Detention Centers.

Court Services
Once the District Attorney’s office has filed a petition, the probation services staff prepares a comprehensive profile of a juvenile and the case. This detailed report may be used with other information to aid the judge in determining a suitable disposition by including details about the youth's physical and emotional status as well as school and family circumstances. If a juvenile is found to have engaged in delinquent conduct, he or she may be allowed to live at home under stringent rules of probation, placed in a residential facility, county institution or committed to the Texas Youth Commission (TYC).