ANDERSON, Ind. — An Indiana student choir serenaded a recent banquet at a church with a rendition of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” earning a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 400 people.

It was music to George Pancol’s ears.

Pancol, who has served as a judge in the Madison County (Indiana) Circuit Court for seven years, helped implement a program called Juvenile Detention Alternatives in 2014. The program, part of a national initiative intended to provide alternative programming for teens instead of detention, also aims to reduce risks to public safety. More than 300 Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI) programs are in place throughout the country.

“In my opinion, for the first year it has far exceeded my expectations,” Pancol told the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.

The Madison County site received a grant of $105,000 from the Indiana Department of Correction last year to expand the program.

Monday, about 20 members from Project Hope, a program allied with JDAI, held a final dress rehearsal to prepare for a command performance in Indianapolis. The students, some of whom have run afoul of the law, will perform for a conference of prosecutors and judges later this week in Indianapolis.

The music portion was created with the assistance of Rebecca Chappell, director of music business studies and Orangehaus Records at Anderson University.

Started in 2004, Orangehaus Records is run by students.

“Last year, we decided to go in a different direction,” she said. “We wondered, how can a record label use music to make a difference in the community?”

So the music department took on two projects. One, Chappell explained, is in partnership with a local youth center where instead of troubled teens being sentenced to detention or electronic monitoring, they are brought to the university weekly to learn songwriting, the complexities of studio production and how to play in a band and sing in a choir. “They also go to the dance department and learn dance,” Chappell said.

For Jadarius Anthony, a 16-year-old student, the program provided a clear alternative to lock-down detention. He blames peer pressure for several break-ins he committed last summer.

“I did what I did,” Anthony said. “Now I have to deal with the consequences.”

He appeared before Pancol, who directed he participate in the JDAI program for nine months, and it’s been a good fit. Anthony already plays bass guitar and the program has helped hone his musical skills.

Anthony’s story is one example, Pancol says, of how the program is making a difference.

“It has been very successful,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll hear more success stories down the road.”

Hirsch writes for the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.