Texas has never ‘automatically prosecuted’ juvenile offenders as adults. Any young criminal under the age of 17, no matter the crime, is processed first in the juvenile courts. If the offense is as serious as murder, attempted murder, rape, aggravated assault (causing grave bodily injury), or armed robbery, the District Attorney can petition the juvenile court to have the case transferred for trial in adult court. If the juvenile is a repeat offender, and we’re not talking two or three times, the District Attorney may choose to petition the juvenile court to have the case transferred to adult court. In any event, it is up to the Juvenile Judge to approve or deny the requested transfer.
Fifteen and sixteen year old thugs – and 17-year-olds in those states where they are classified as juveniles - should hardly be referred to as ‘children.’ Vicious thugs and sophisticated young offenders are not wayward or delinquent children. They should be tried as adults rather than subjected to the leniency of the juvenile justice system. And what about those juveniles who continue to commit non-violent offenses after a number of prior juvenile court dispositions? They need to have their ‘juvenile plug’ pulled and be made to stand trial in adult court.
I’m sure the liberal editorial staff of The Times was well aware that several states have systems like Texas, wherein all juvenile offenders are processed first in juvenile court and can only be transferred to adult court after due consideration by a Juvenile Judge. This is an inconvenient truth the Times editors deliberately chose to ignore. And when they state that ‘a quarter of a million children’ are funneled ‘into the adult justice system each year,’ they’re pulling that figure out of a hat alongside the rabbit.
FIXING THE MISTAKE WITH YOUNG OFFENDERS
The New York Times
Editorial
April 3,2011
There is new evidence that state governments are finally understanding what a tragic mistake they made during the 1990s when they began trying ever larger numbers of children as adults instead of sending them to the juvenile justice system.
Prosecutors argued that harsh sentencing would protect the public from violent, youthful predators. But it has since turned out that most young people who spend time in jails and prisons are charged with nonviolent offenses. As many as half are never convicted of anything at all. In addition, research has shown that these young people are vulnerable to battery and rape at the hands of adult inmates and more likely to become violent, lifelong criminals than those who are held in juvenile custody.
A new study by the Campaign for Youth Justice, a Washington advocacy group, shows that state legislatures across the country are getting the message. In the last five years, the authors say, 15 states have passed nearly 30 pieces of legislation aimed at reversing policies that funnel a quarter of a million children into the adult justice system each year.
Ten states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana and Nevada, have cut the number of offenses that get youthful offenders automatically transferred to adult courts. Three states have expanded the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts, so that children under 18 are no long automatically prosecuted as adults. And several states have limited the circumstances under which young people can be housed in adult lock-ups before or after conviction.
Momentum is building for similar reforms all across the country. For example, Nebraska is considering a bill that would give people sentenced as juveniles to life without parole an opportunity to petition for reductions.
Far too many children are still being sentenced by adult courts and confined to adult prisons. But this study shows that the tide has begun to turn.
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