El Dorado, Kan. - A ruling June 20 by the Kansas Supreme Court giving juvenile offenders the constitutional right to a jury trial has caused the Butler County District Attorney’s office to take a look at what effect that will have locally. Currently, the juvenile division sees between 500 and 600 cases a year, with half being offender cases and another 100 going through pre-filing diversion. “You don’t file every case you review,” said Jan Satterfield, district attorney. There are about 250 to 300 cases filed. “We often fill as many juvenile offender cases as we do adult felonies,” she said. They won’t know the impact this ruling will have for some time. Satterfield expects to see the impact on staffing and if more is needed over the next six months to one year, but the cost of the impact won’t be evident for one to two years. Satterfield has her own outlook on juvenile cases. “My philosophy is there are many kids who get in trouble and will mature and grow up to be productive citizens,” she said. “When we evaluate cases, initially we’re trying to treat all these kids as you’re not a criminal, you got in trouble, we want to get you on the right track.” She said they look for options for treatment and help for the youth. “We want to make sure we have exhausted all of our resources,” she said. Although, she said, they do also have chronic youth offenders and their cases are treated a little differently. She said they work to find the balance between protecting the public and treating the youth. “We have to look at each child and their circumstances,” Satterfield said.