If this year’s State of the Judiciary speech by Chief Justice Daniel Wathen has the impact of the 1997 version, expect something more than just talk about juvenile crime.

The centerpiece of last year’s annual address to legislators was Wathen’s plan to create a District Court Family Division, in which case management officers would mediate or, if that failed, adjudicate resolutions to divorce and child custody or support disputes, thus unclogging the courts and avoiding months of acrimonious delays.

In hearings before the Legislature, the plan was shredded by the bar association. It was tarred and feathered by lawmakers with ties to the legal profession. Family Court opens for buiness in May.

But a pack of turf-conscious lawyers will seem like cuddly kittens compared with the tough customers the state’s top judge is taking on this time: sullen, disaffected youth; lousy, disinterested parents; facilities and programs that have been on a starvation diet for years. If Wathen can straighten out the dreary, frustrating mess that is juvenile justice, Maine will have to add a 17th county just so it has something big enough to name after him.

Establishing the cause-and-effect relationship between the state’s stinginess toward the Youth Center and the nagging persistence of juvenile crime, Wathen told legislators: We have a system wracked with delay and stretched beyond capacity, and believe me, they know it. Juveniles will respond to correction only when it is fair, swift, certain and consistent. Many have said it, but few have Wathen’s first-hand experience on the bench or his level of clout in the State House.

At the same time, Wathen recognizes that the kid who’s a terror on the street often is a victim at home. His suggestion that many juvenile cases eventually be transferred to family court acknowledges the heavy toll taken by child abuse and neglect.

Last year, Gov. King adopted Wathen’s family court plan and ushered it through the Legislature. This time, Wathen is backing up the governor’s call for $2.5 million in emergency spending to reconstitute the Youth Center’s depleted staff and as much as $40 million from surplus to rebuild its facilities and programs.

There is no question Maine has long wanted a juvenile system that combines swift and certain justice with giving troubled kids a second chance. It just hasn’t wanted to pay for it. A growing number of legislators now seem to be willing to discuss it; Gov. King’s proposals provide some hard numbers to open the debate; Justice Wathen’s advocacy may be what’s needed to get it moving.