Few Juveniles in TX County Jails, Some Isolated, In Danger

Few juveniles in Texas land in county jails, but when they do they are often isolated, in danger from older inmates, and without access to educational and rehabilitative programs, says University of Texas reprot quoted by the Texas Tribune. Last year, state legislators allowed local boards to give judges the discretion to send youths who are certified to stand trial as adults to juvenile facilities, instead of county jails.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs surveyed jails to determine what kind of conditions juveniles face when they are incarcerated in facilities meant for adults. Jails, they discovered, are not suited to deal with the particular needs of youths. “There’s no good answer,” said Michele Deitch, who led the study. “The jail administrators are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to managing these juveniles.” Researchers discovered far fewer youths in county jails than they expected. Each year from 2006 to 2010, about 200 youths were certified to stand trial as adults. Last October and November, there were only 34 youths under the age of 18 in jails statewide.

Ohio Youths Tried As Adults More Likely to Commit New Crimes

About 300 youth offenders — some as young as 14 — go through Ohio’s criminal-justice system each year and end up in adult jails and prisons. A study by the Children’s Law Center, “Falling Through the Cracks,” says young offenders in the adult system face a higher risk of being assaulted, are more prone to suicide, and are 34 percent more likely to commit crimes once released than are offenders processed in the juvenile justice system.

Ohio has taken steps through the Reclaim Ohio program to reduce the number of offenders in juvenile prisons. As recently as 1995, there were 2,795 young offenders in Department of Youth Services facilities. In February of this year, there were 628, a decline of 78 percent. State law includes several ways that juveniles as young as 14 can be sent to the adult system, depending on the severity of the crime. Ohio has made changes to laws regarding juveniles, some more successful than others. State lawmakers last year made it easier for youths sent to adult court to be transferred back to the juvenile system through waivers. However, a 2000 state law that was designed to restrict sending juveniles to adult court ended up expanding it.

Critics Question OR Law On Trying Youths As Adults

U.S. To Study Youths Tried As Adults For First Time In A Decade

For the first time in more than a decade, the U.S. Department of Justice is attempting to gather data about the least-known group of juvenile offenders: youths who are transferred into the adult criminal court system, reports Youth Today. The Bureau of Justice Statistics is funding research organization Westat Inc. to conduct the survey. A recent study of Baltimore’s transferred youth suggests that further questions loom about what happens after the decision to move a juvenile to the adult system.

Westat was chosen for the $500,000 grant and will work with subcontractor the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) on the project. The report probably won’t be published until after the 2012 elections. The most obvious question is exactly how many youth are sent to adult court?  There is no credible answer now, either at the state or national level. The advocacy group Campaign for Youth Justice uses the estimate of between 200,000 and 250,000 juveniles prosecuted every year in adult courts. That figure includes juveniles who are tried as adults because the state in which they are charged has an age of jurisdiction below 18.

Fewer Youths Sent To Adult Court; Teen Crime Up 2003-07

Waivers of juvenile delinquency cases to adult court are down markedly from their peak in 1994, and black juveniles now make up a smaller proportion of those being transferred, reports Youth Today, citing data from the Pittsburgh-based National Center for Juvenile Justice. Forty-four percent of the 13,100 juveniles transferred in 1994 were black; 37 percent of the 8,500 juveniles waived to adult court in 2007 were black.

The waiver category includes only decisions by judges to move a juvenile to adult court. These statistics contain no information on the racial proportions of juveniles directly transferred by statute or prosecutorial discretion. Among other data reported, from 2003 to 2007, juvenile arrests for robbery went up 35 percent; juvenile court cases for robbery were up 45 percent in that time. Those statistics, and a 5 percent increase in criminal homicide cases, drove a 13 percent spike in violent crime cases involving juveniles during the same period. Simple assault cases declined 4 percent between 2003 and 2007, but the long-term increase in that charge is staggering. In 1985 juvenile courts saw 3.8 cases of simple assault for every 1,000 youth between the ages 10 and 18. By 2007? The rate was 8.8 per 1,000.

Youth on Trial: Part 2

For two years Daniel Miller chronicled his experience while being tried as an adult for a crime he committed at sixteen. Following is the second half of his story, which The Beat Within, has generously allowed The Crime Report to share.

Day 9

March 1^st, today was the last of the people’s evidence. There was a detective again on the stand for most of the morning. Then there was Dr. Michelle Jordan, Medical Examiner.

She’s a coroner. In this case she was rendering her opinions off of photos of the victim. How can she say how the guy died if she never actually looked at the body herself? It doesn’t make sense to a lot of us.

When the DA was asking her questions, she was “on point” I guess you could say, but when defense started asking questions, she seemed to not know any of the answers to the questions they were asking, like they were speaking in a foreign tongue.

But I guess that’s that. Now we start the defense side tomorrow. We don’t have that much material. We will be done by either tomorrow or Wednesday.

But what I don’t get is how can you determine how a person died just by looking at pictures? Crazy. Let’s just say this: What if a man was hit by a car, then an hour and half later he gets shot and dies the next day in the hospital. So a coroner doctor does the autopsy and says the cause of death was from the car, internal bleeding, but a contributory cause of death was the bullet wound(s). Now, let’s say those two people go to trial, one for the hit-an’-run, the other for the gunshots. The judge rules that the original coroner doctor doesn’t have to come in on both cases. So some other coroner comes in and says it was the bullet wounds that killed him. He/she are looking at pictures to determine the cause of death. So who’s going to get out? The guy who actually killed the person, the hit-an’-run guy gets out. How is all that even fair?

I keep telling my co-defendant we’re not getting a fair trial ‘cause we’re really not. Our case is basically the same thing as the above. Guy got beat up; hour and half later got tasered 20 times. The original doctor in my case said it was both the altercation where got beat up and the cops tasering the victim/suspect.

Now this coroner doctor says it was due to “blunt force trauma”. The DA said the victim was brain dead walking around for an hour and a half… How does that work?

I think the judge messed with our rights to a fair trial. It’s not just me either, a lot of people think so.

I just hope I get a chance to enjoy my life, ‘cause what I was doing when I was a teen, that was not life. I thought it was, but I was young, dumb, and full of drugs. As long as I learned from those mistakes…

Can I really get punished for something I did not do? It hurts to know that I possibly could.

Day 10

Defense only took one day. We had four witnesses testify and, well, it only took one day. So we’re done… Tomorrow we go back and start doing the jury instructions. The jury wont be there, but we will. We gots to set the rules.

I am really nervous right now. The jury will start to deliberate on Thursday. I can get charged with 1^st or 2^nd degree.

There were a lot of people there on our behalf. I would say a little over 20 people we’re there for us. You can tell everybody is stressed out or depressed. I just hope nobody lost that faith.

We gots to keep our heads up. God forbid that anything bad happens to us.

Judgment day is comin’ real soon.

Day 11

Nothin’ really happened today. Counsel was just going over the jury rules. No jury was there. So we go back tomorrow for the closing statements and to give the jury their instructions.

I guess our families were mad ‘cause the defense side of the case was only one day long. Some of the witnesses weren’t even called. I thought I could get a PC 32, accessory after the fact, but the judge did not comply with us, as always. No manslaughter either. It’s 15 or 25 to life or our freedom.

So tomorrow they will (the jury) start deliberation when everything is done.

I’m very nervous, depressed and sick of feeling like the way I do.

Day 12

Closing Statements…

The DA’s closing statement was just like his opening statement. Just a few differences. The fact that now he can say what he wants, such as “They’re guilty,” really bothers me.

If we get convicted, it will be every terrible because the DA actually thinks he has the right guys. Well, that is far from right. I really never thought it could be like this. My co-defendant and I are so innocent; it’s crazy that we’re still here.

We didn’t even get done today. The DA took the whole morning and some of the afternoon. Then my co-defendant’s attorney went. Let me say this, even though the DA was very harsh with his PowerPoint, Eddie’s attorney was very good at what he did. He shot it and made a three-pointer. All the DA is trying to get is a slam dunk. Well that’s not going to happen. The DA claims that “identification is not an issue in this case.” Well, it is. Very much so. There is no physical evidence in this case whatsoever. This whole case is about identification. The DA keeps saying we did the crime. He has never been more wrong in his life.

This one woman that we know started to cry during the DA’s closing. Everybody was basically wondering why. Well, she wanted to testify in our case, on our behalf. Well, let me flat out say it: A man she used to hang out with told her that he killed someone and got two other boys locked up for it. That man was picked out in a photo line-up as the one with the bat. Another line-up was shown, and another kid was picked out as the one on the bike. A sketch was done of the kid on the bike. That sketch was taken to a school and shown to the principal. The principal straight up said, “That’s _____” So basically, the sketch looks identical to that kid. How crazy is that?

Eddie’s attorney did what he had to do. My attorney goes on Monday. Then the DA gets to go again. The jurors start to deliberate.

Another thing I found out is the jury is responsible for letting us go home or giving us 1^st or 2^nd degree murder. We all can’t wait until this case is over. Again, there was over 30 people there for us — friends, family, “De-Bug”, and the Mercury News. It’s nice having support.

Day 13

Today was my attorney’s closing and the DA’s rebuttal.

I would have to say my attorney did a really good job. He was so into his work, he started to sweat really bad. Shoot, I was sweating, and I was just sitting there. But all in all, he did a good job.

The DA has this thing for power points on his laptop. He did a good job, too. He is a very good DA, very tough.

My attorney made a joke, saying, “I feel like we’re the hurt locker and Carr is Avatar.”

The DA did go off a little, but that’s his job. Now we sit and wait while the jurors deliberate. It was a very long day.

During my attorney’s last statement, I almost started to cry. Yeah, I said it. I was just thinking that if we get convicted, nobody will ever know the truth. It hurts to get blamed for a murder that you never committed. But I still go to court day to day with my head held high. Or, as my mom says ,“Chin up.”

I just got hella mad and sad at the same time ‘cause to see all these people hurt due to this case. Yeah, it’s sad that someone lost their life, but the people in court I see grieve are my family, friends, and my co-defendant’s family. To see all these people sad and crying ‘cause two young men might lose their lives to the system… it hurts.

I never really got to live my life. I thought I was, but I was wrong. I was 17 when I got locked up. Now I’m 20, almost 21. It’s a lot to maintain, but I gots to keep on movin’ and continue to keep my smile on my face so it shows my family that everything will be all right.

Day 14

The jury is deliberating

Day 15

Jury Deliberating

Day 16

Today was the day. We knew it; we felt it. It was about 1:40 pm when we got into court. The judge came in and that’s when my heart started to pound.

When the judge told my co-defendant to stand up, I really felt like cryin’, but didn’t. The whole courtroom was packed. A lot of family and some friends. Then the clerk read the verdict. She went on for some time, then, finally. “We the jury find the defendant, Mr. Eddie James Sample, guilty of count one, first degree murder.”

My head dropped. People were crying. It was all bad. I could feel it coming

“We the jury find the defendant, Mr. Daniel Miller, guilty of count one, first degree murder…”

It’s not the end though. Some of the jurors were crying.

Then Eddie’s Dad yelled at the 12 in the box, “How are you all going to be able to sleep at night?” His Uncle said, “You all should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Then we had to get out of there. Pretty crazy day if you ask me. I’m fine though. I got to keep on movin’ with my head up. I mean, yeah, it hurts, but I’ll be fine. My family is still behind me 100%. You know, the sad part about it is they still got the wrong people. Now that’s the part that hurts the most.

The man who passed away, his family didn’t even look like it’s what they wanted. But I guess this is how it was supposed to end up. I’ll be comin’ back, believe that. We’re not done. We sure as hell ain’t gonna give up.

To everyone, never fall down, never give up. Keep that faith and remember always. stay true to yourself.

To the Beat staff and readers, much love.

Post Script — One Week Later

It’s Not Over

You know, when I first got convicted, I guess I was in shock. I really didn’t know how serious it all really is. I got convicted of first degree murder! I still haven’t been sentenced. Then again, it’s only been a week. When they said my boy was guilty, that’s when I knew it was a wrap for me.

The courtroom was filled, packed. A lot of crying. They said we showed no emotions when the verdict was read. What did they want us to do, sit down, slam our heads on the table and start crying? I don’t think so. I did cry, but not ‘til the next day. Everybody got emotions, it’s just that I hold my emotions in. People say that’s bad, but that’s how I’ve always been.

Now I wait. It’s not over. Far from it. I just got to wait for my appeals to go through. The waiting game. I’ll be back. Probably two to three years. But I’ll be back! It’s not over.

Never give up. Always stay true.

I’m going to keep goin’. I tell myself, family, and my girl that there is still hope. I never gave up. I been down since ’06. I’ve been smiling ever since. There’s not a day that goes by with me not smiling at least once.

I am only 20, and my life is far from over. There’s only one thing that can come out of this… And that thing is good.

I Got To Keep Moving!

Keep That Head Up!

For more information about The Beat Within and other writings by juveniles in the justice system please visit their Web site at http://www.thebeatwithin.org.

Youth On Trial: Part 1

Daniel Miller, "Thirst" wrote faithfully for The Beat Within , a juvenile justice system  writing workshop. For two years he chronicled his experience while being tried as an adult for a crime he committed at sixteen. Following is his story, which The Beat Within, has generously allowed The Crime Report to share.

Introduction

Trial… it’s about to start. I’m tired, feel weak, stressed and I feel like dying, to tell you the truth. I always ask myself why did everything have to change. So drastic? So fast? I was only 17 when I got arrested. They say the crime happened when I was 16. I still can’t believe I am being charged as an adult.

I’ve been through some shhh in the past 37 months. Ups and a whole lot of downs. Everybody who is in my corner says I’m going home. A lot of them don’t understand I am going against SJ PD! It’s very complicated, my case. The case is four years old and I’ve been down for three. I don’t think any person should go through this kind of pain — the pain that my family goes through, especially my mom.

There’s been a glass window separating me from my mom. I haven’t hugged or kissed my mom in two years. Now that hurts a lot, because before I got locked up, I was never home. I was always our and either doing or selling drugs, all bad. Now I wish I could’ve spent way more time with my Mom, with the family.

I should be out there enjoying life. I’m only 20 years old, and there are tons of things I’ve never done. Like fly in a plane or touch snow. To all you at the halls, stop thinking that everything is a game. This isn’t a game, it’s reality. It took a murder case to open my eyes. A murder I didn’t even commit. It’s my first time locked up.

Guys have said I’ve adapted pretty good to this life style. Well, either I adapted to it or I didn’t, and if I didn’t, then I would still be telling myself that I’m going home tomorrow. It took a year and a half for me to figure out that I wasn’t going home any time soon.

This life isn’t life. Open your minds and ask yourself if you want to be trapped in a box for the rest of your life. I don’t. I have a family and a woman waiting for me out in the free world.

Yeah, I got a lady. She means a lot to me. She does a lot for me. For me to be facing a life sentence, she shoes that she don’t care. Many male/females that are your lovers, if they seen that you were facing life, they would’ve been gone in 7-9 months of you being down, unless you got a kid with ‘em, then that’s different. This woman I am with is my third since I’ve been locked up. I had a lady when I got arrested. She left me after nine months. Then I came to county, and my other ex wanted to get with me and marry me. We were together for four months. My lady right now, we’ve been together for about one year. Great woman.

I got off subject, my bad. I will be writin’ throughout my jury picks and trial. I got court on Monday, January 25^th 2010. My co-defendant and I are still filing motions. The last of ‘em are going to be heard the 25^th and the 26^th.

Arrest Date: 12-13-06, Prelim: 10-/14 – 10/16, ‘08

Trial Begins Soon…

Jury! We’ve been picking the jury for about five days. It seems to me that nobody wants to be on a jury where the defendants are 19 and 20. The fact that the crime happened when I was 16 and my co-defendant 15 raises some flags in people’s heads.

I really thought it would’ve been different. Some people who got dismissed wanted to stay. The DA dismissed one woman because she kept looking at me and smiling. There’s been a lot of different people, and a lot of different stories.

The DA finally offered us a deal. Mine was 11 years and my co-defendants was 15 to life, if you call the second one a deal. But people have told me that they were glad that I didn’t take the deal. Well it was a joint deal, meaning we both had to take it.

We are down to the last 45 people. We’re keeping 15, 12 for the box and three others just in case. (alternate jurors)

It feels so weird now that everything is going to be all said and done. Let’s just hope that I’m good at gambling because we’re playing for my life, playing for keeps.

Jury is all picked; 12 people have my life in their hands. Everything has been different. People have been saying that I’ve been acting different. Well, how about they go to trail for a murder that they never committed. See how different they act. I start trial tomorrow, February 9^th 2010.

9:15 a.m. — Day One

“Record will show both defendants are present. Mr. Edward James Sample and Mr. Daniel Miller.”

It was a good day in court, really tiring but good. The actual eye witness got on the stand today. Six hours and 45 minutes of questioning. That’s pretty brutal. He said a lot that helps. He looked a bit mad ‘cause he has to come back tomorrow, but everything is goin’ good.

The DA’s opening statement was harsh, like they always are. He made it seem like he knew every detail form the night of the assault. He said a lot of terrible things, but he also brought up that after the assault by two individuals, the victim walked for one hour and 30 minutes to two hours. That person got the police called on him for trying to break into a car one mile and some away from where he got attacked. The second scene: he was beat with excessive force. The total of cops at that scene was six-eight. The first three used pepper spray and batons. Then a taser was deployed. More cops showed up and used their batons. Another taser was deployed. Altogether, two cops tasered the man 20 times, eight from one gun and 12 from the other.

The judge ruled that my attorney or my co-defendant’s attorney can’t tell the jury how many times the man was tasered. What does that tell you? They are trying to cover up what the cops really did to the man. In the DA’s opening statement, he made it seem like the man only got tasered once or twice. To me, that’s hiding evidence and violating my rights to a fair trial. Well, the victim/suspect passed away the next day, January 26^th 2006. So much for having a fair trial.

Day 2, February 10, 2010

I don’t think the first witness wanted to show up. He came late, so the DA called up another witness who says he didn’t see anything from where he was standing, which he said was about 70 yards away from the attack. It was a good day though.

Then a doctor got up there on the stand for a really long time. To me he was talking about noting.

Then Mr. Richard Torres (had been my co-defendant) took the stand against us. He got a deal to testify: three years accessory after the fact. He took that in a heartbeat. He was facing life, but now he gets to go home for a fake-ass story. Well, he got up there and said what he said, but we’re not done with him. Cross examination has not started. We start that on the 16^th and get a five-day weekend, so now I wait.

At the end of the day, one of the jurors asked to talk to the judge at the bench. Turns out our case was in the newspaper, and it talked about everything — the attack all the way up ‘til they tasered he man 20 times. It talks about how people think we’re being scapegoated by SJPD for they’re wrong doings. The juror said he only read some of the article, but I think the judge is going to kick him off.

I just want to go home. I want all this to end already. It’s not fair. I could get life, and I wasn’t even there when the crime took place.

According to the comments left on the Mercury News, a lot of people are upset with the fact that the cops aren’t on trial for what they did. The county did get sued for six million by the victim’s family, but the cops never went on trial. The family won the lawsuit, but they only get the money if we win at trial.

Day 3

Well, I get woken up every day at six a.m,.. well, on the days I got trial. When me and my co-defendant got to our courtroom, the DA wasn’t there. He was in Texas during our five-day break. The DA went somewhere on the east coast and got snowed in because of a blizzard. He got to Texas the day we were supposed to start, which is the 16^th of February. His flight from Texas to San Jose was going to come in at 11 or 11:30 a.m., so we had no court in the morning because of the DA. Thank you! The excuse was his son is real active in hockey… Ooookay... Well guess what, we’re real active in this trial.

When we went into court at 1:50 p.m., 50 minutes late, the DA went over the same thing with the same witness. It is very annoying just sitting there and listening to lies about yourself; kinda sucks.

My family came, my mom, dad, step dad, sister, cousin and his wife. Also my lady.

(By the way, the juror didn’t get kicked off.)

Day 4

Wow, it seems to me that something does not want this case to go any further. Another delay. Isn’t that great? My co-defendant’s attorney, his father is sick. Now that is actually understandable.

We went in for half the day, but nothin’ happened. The cross examination was supposed to start today, which is the 18^th. This is too much. This trial is behind schedule by three or four days. Something new is always coming up. A lot. In the four days of trial we’ve gone, some new stuff has been popping up.

Then to my attorney, my co-defendant’s attorney and the DA, they feel that our judge doesn’t know what he’s doing. My attorney said the judge messed up numerous times. He said the judge messed up so bad that -God forbid - we lose, we have so much action at appeals it’s not even funny.

Now we go back on the 22^nd. Too many days off.

Some questions were brought to my attention today, like “How can they convict you if there is no murder weapon?” Well, that is a very great question. My family would ask my attorney these types of questions, and he would just brush them off. Then another, “How can you get convicted for someone else’s wrong doings?” Well, I don’t have any idea. Our laws are crazy. Oh yeah, and my favorite, “How come the cops aren’t on trial?” I wish I knew the answers to all my questions, but I don’t.

Day 5

The same witness was up there on the stand repeating his testimony. Same thing, different say. Caught him in some lies, and made him look like an idiot. He was basically the worst part of the trial, even though his testimony and another’s don’t match up. But in the end, it’s all up to the jury.

Day 6

The detective, well one of them, was up there for the day. He looked kinda mad that our attorneys caught him in some lies.

He is not very good at lying. You can actually tell. He rubs on his chin when he lies.

I learned that there was a total of six suspects for this case. They’re trying to say it’s gang related, but we’ve never belonged to a gang, the only two out of that six.

They got a picture of me through up a “W” with my hand. Well, that’s where I’m from, the West Side of San Jose. The DA went as far as saying West Side is a ‘hood.

Oh, and there was evidence thrown away and blood washed away from the first scene.

But anyways, the DA and his “team” are trying to convict us so bad that the detective said we’re guilty already. He said it twice about my co-defendant and once about me. Well, he wasn’t supposed to say that. We are innocent ‘til proven guilty.

Tomorrow the detectives partner goes on the stand. We’ll see how that goes.

The trial will be going on longer than we expected.

My Mom, Dad, and my Lady all came today — including an 8^th grade class for a field trip! Who does that? Take some 8^th graders to a murder trial? Weird.

Day 7

The days really do keep getting weirder. Well, the highlight of the day was when the DA threw a little fit in court. They went up to the bench and, well, the judge said the DA was acting unprofessional and with no respect towards the defense. The DA kinda acts like a kid.

My attorney asked me gain if I wanted to testify. Well, I’m following my heart and not testifying. I can’t do that .My attorney’s not giving up hope. He just said it would make our case stronger, but I’m cool. My co-defendant is like my brother (from another mother).

I just hope everything goes all right. I really hope that I go home.

For the sake of my family… I hope I get my chance.

Day 8

Well, the DA threw another little fit. He can’t keep his cool under pressure.

Oh, and the judge thinks he screwed up a little on a decision. Well, he did. My attorney said we got a lot of action at appeal. He said — God forbid — we get convicted, but if we do then we’re comin’ back real hard. I hope we get out. The DA told my attorney he thinks it will be a hung jury, and that he doesn’t want to go through the process again.

The witnesses are either getting worse or they are just too full of themselves. I’ll be all right, though. I gots to keep my head up for my family.

I’ll be all right. Things will be fine.

Part 2 of Thirst's  court trial will appear on The Crime Report on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010. For more information about The Beat Within and other writings by juveniles in the justice system please visit their Web site at http://thebeatwithin.org.

PA Boy, 12, Could Be Youngest To Serve Life Term Without Parole

ND Study: Courts Must Scrutinize Competency Of Juveniles

After testing more than 70 adolescents in the Grand Forks, N.D., juvenile court system, University of North Dakota researchers have concluded that courts nationwide should take steps to ensure that juveniles being tried as adults are mentally fit, reports the Fargo Forum. The study’s findings suggest that court officials should consider the results of competency and psychological tests in determining if juveniles, whose brains are still developing, understand the consequences of certain legal decisions, such as choosing between a trial or a plea deal, said Mariah Laver, one of the researchers.

Roughly 200,000 juvenile cases go through adult criminal courts in the U.S. each year, according to the Campaign for Youth Justice. Laver said none of the study participants, whose offenses ranged from skipping school to assault, was tried as an adult but that the group represents a population similar to those who are. She said the study found “better reasoning and better understanding of court proceedings was associated with higher intelligence levels.” The study builds off earlier research by others, including one by the Sentencing Project that concluded, “Recent studies on child development and competency question the extent to which young children are able to assist counsel or understand the trial process.”

'Zero Tolerance' School Rules Lack Common Sense: Georgia Paper

The Savannah Morning News says Georgia's zero tolerance policies for school violations "allow for zero common sense. Where there is obviously no malicious intent, the punishment should fit the crime." In an editorial, the paper continued, "Georgia must make it clear that bringing a weapon onto school property jeopardizes public safety. Sadly, we live in a world where neighborhood violence can bleed into neighborhood schools, and where crazed young people have spawned tragedies on campuses. Schools must be safe zones. But that doesn't mean all offenses are alike."

Recently, a 14-year-old Georgia student who voluntarily turned in a pocketknife to his principal was was arrested and forced to spend the night in a youth detention center before receiving a hearing. The editorial says, "Protecting students in a post-Columbine world is serious business, so it's important for school administrators to do all they can to keep weapons off of school campuses. But it is also important for the state to have mechanisms to inject some common sense into the procedure before a student faces long-term suspension for an innocuous slip-up."

Youth with Guns

Juveniles that commit crimes using weapons are brought directly to adult court facing more serious charges and jail time, a recent study, "JUVENILE OFFENDERS AND WEAPONS," by the New York City Criminal Justice Agency found. In addition, juveniles with a gun charge were more likely to have a previous offense (over 50 percent) and almost 80 per cent were l rearrested within four years.

Read the study.

Use The Crime Report for more information on Juvenile Justice.

Change Comes Slowly On "Adult Time For Adult Crimes"

Government gives mixed signals on when young people become adults, says Governing magazine. The most glaring examples come from the criminal justice system. A spike in juvenile violence two decades ago spurred state legislators to adopt the mantra “adult time for adult crimes.” In most states, a 10-year-old charged with murder can be tried as an adult. Slightly older teens can be tried in adult courts for virtually every other crime. Even when states wait until 18 to treat criminals as adults, they don’t like to wait long. Until recently, inmates at youth detention facilities in New Mexico were woken up just one minute after midnight on their 18th birthdays to be moved to adult prisons.

Despite all the media attention given years ago to superpredators, the vast majority of youth crimes involve property theft and drugs and seldom involve murder. Tough policies toward juveniles remain prevalent, but a few states have begun loosening up. In 2005, Illinois ended its policy of automatically transferring juvenile misdemeanor cases to adult courts, leaving the decision up to judges. A follow-up study found a dramatic drop in the number of cases referred to adult court, suggesting that most of the old automatic transfers had not involved serious crimes. As of January 1, Connecticut will end its policy of treating all offenders 16 and up as adults. Still, there’s no telling when a high-profile teen crime may catch the attention of cable news. “If we have another crime wave for whatever reason,” says Shay Bilchik, of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, “it will be very difficult to resist going back to lock 'em up.”

'Youthful Offender' Status Can Mean Info Blackout In CT

The New Haven Register says Connecticut's "youthful offender" laws are widely misunderstood, including by police officers and school officials. The state in recent years has broadened its protections for youths who find themselves on the wrong side of the law by extending “youthful offender” status to 16- and 17-year-olds and restricting information that police may release. The protections don’t extend to those accused of the most severe crimes, however.

The problem was evident in recent raids of underage-drinking parties in East Haven, Branford and Cheshire. The school superintendents in Branford and East Haven, where 22 and 24 teenagers, respectively, were ticketed last month, complained that their jobs were made more difficult because, under the relatively new laws, police would not release, even to them, the identities of high school students ticketed for possession of alcohol by a minor.

Dallas Girl, 13, Spent Two Weeks In Adult Jail

Authorities are investigating how a 13-year-old girl spent almost two weeks in the Dallas County Jail on a shoplifting charge, reports the Dallas Morning News. Jasmine Lewis was released on probation after 13 days, with authorities apparently still unaware of her true name and age. Police say she told them she was 17.

She was arrested with a 20-year-old on July 10 on shoplifting charges at a Target store. After initially telling police she was underage, the girl then gave a date of birth in 1991 that would have made her an adult. In fact, she was born in 1995. Police officials say the situation is unusual. More often, they encounter adult suspects who pretend to be juveniles in an attempt to avoid jail. "There are unanswered questions," said Assistant Chief Ron Waldrop, who oversees the investigations bureau. "The thing that's raised everybody's concerns is that she did contend initially that she was" underage.

Idaho Initiative Seeks Reform Of Juvenile Felon Laws

A rally is planned Tuesday in Idaho as a part of a campaign to eliminate a state law that anyone 14 or older must be tried as an adult if charged with murder or certain other serious crimes, reports the Idaho Statesman. University of Idaho professor Eric Jensen says judges, not lawmakers, should determine whether an underage offender should be tried as an adult. State law should establish clear criteria - such as age, severity of the crime and criminal history - to determine when a minor can be legally treated as an adult rather than automatically being routed into the adult system, he said.

Idaho's judges do have discretion to send many teens convicted as adults to juvenile detention rather than an adult prison, but that option cannot be used for teens convicted of murder or treason. "A basic tenet of criminal law is that a person must form the intent to commit a crime to be found guilty of committing the offense," Jensen said. "The juvenile justice system (was) founded, in part, on a belief that juveniles are not fully cognitively developed. This basic principle has been swept aside by policymakers since the Reagan revolution with the expansion of mandatory or legislative waiver statutes."