Comment about juvenile deliquenc
"He's lost … his future is gone."
Fifteen-year-old Charles "Andy" Williams' mother uttered those words
after she learned about her son's arrest for a fatal shooting spree in
Santana High School.
Some say those words also apply to Lionel Tate, 14, who has been
sentenced to life in prison without parole in the wrestling death of his
6-year-old playmate. Under Florida law, Tate faced a mandatory sentence
of life in prison without parole for his conviction on first-degree
murder charges.
Both Tate, who was 12 when he killed 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick, and
Williams, who faces an adult trial under California's Proposition 21,
are being punished under strong laws designed to deter other juveniles
from committing similar crimes.
However, critics find reasons in both these cases to question the
appropriateness of such laws, and whether they have any impact on
children.
"There's no question that they don't stop school shootings," said Mark
Soler, president of the Youth Law Center, an advocacy group based in
Washington, D.C., that seeks alternatives to incarceration for underage
offenders. "I don't think anybody would agree that a change in state
policy is going to deter an adolescent — a child — from doing anything.
What the laws have done is substitute a broad statement of policy for
individualized justice."
Tate: Case Study Of A Failing System?
Tate was tried as an adult under a 1981 Florida statute that gives
prosecutors discretion as to whether to charge juveniles as adults.
Florida is one of 15 states that grant prosecutors this power.
While a report by the Justice Department last year said that juvenile
murder arrests had reached a 33-year low, falling 68 percent between
1994 and 1999, some critics pointed to a study by the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention that found Florida still had the
second-highest overall violent crime rate among juveniles in the country
— a rate that is 48 percent higher than the rest of the country.
Critics say this, and Tate's imminent sentence, show that laws such as Florida's need to be reconsidered.
"Lionel Tate is an example of the inappropriateness of the charges a
prosecutor can bring against a juvenile in these situations," said
Soler. "No one really believes that he should have been charged with
first-degree murder, as an adult no less."
An adult prison sentence will not likely help Tate, critics argue.
Studies published in the journal Crime & Delinquency have said that
juveniles in the adult prison system are approximately 33 percent more
likely to continue committing crimes than those who have gone through
the juvenile system.
One expert says the approach to juvenile justice must change. Despite
the seriousness of school shootings and homicide, juvenile offenders are
not little adult criminals.
"The laws presume that juveniles are rational beings who weigh the costs
and benefits of things before doing them," said Jeffrey Fagan,
professor of law at Columbia University and director of its Center for
Violence Research and Prevention.
"Well, nothing could be further from the truth. They're kids and that's
what makes them kids. I don't think any of the people in the school
shootings weighed costs and benefits before they did what they did, and
they had plenty of time to think about it. I don't think anything was
going to deter them. … they were driven by emotional and psychological
factors."
Adult Time For Adult Crime
Still, advocates of California's Proposition 21 and other laws that
favor trying and sentencing juveniles as adults, argue that strong
juvenile justice laws are needed because previous laws were just too
lenient. The fact that juveniles are continuing to commit certain crimes
ignores the point of these laws, they say.
"No law will completely eradicate any crime," said Matt Ross, who led a
campaign to pass Proposition 21 last year. "Proposition 21 was designed
to deter those who would commit violent crimes from doing so and set up a
just punishment for those who commit violent crimes. Before, if a
juvenile killed someone, the worst punishment he would face is
incarceration in a youth facility until he was 25. After that he could
go on with the rest of his life and his criminal record would remain
sealed. Meanwhile, the victim is still dead … well, we didn't think that
was right."
Ross said that contrary to critics' charges, Proposition 21 does not
merely throw juveniles in jail and give up on their future. He said it
formalizes the rehabilitation and probation process, requiring juveniles
to participate in rehab programs, giving juvenile probation the same
standards as adult probation. And he noted that Proposition 21 is not a
blanket measure that covers all juvenile offenders — it focuses on
violent offenders.
Reaching Out And Not Giving Up
However, some say they are not ready to protect the public by trying the
Santana High School shooting suspect as an adult, despite the charges
against him.
"Just from hearing interviews with people who knew this child, those who
knew him back [in his former home] in Maryland, it seems like there
were some pretty harsh, relentless things, some relentless teasing,
going on," said Soler. "There are some things I'd like to know before
deciding to try this kid as an adult."
Soler said he still believed Tate and Williams should be punished, but
their cases have to be considered individually. They should not be
judged by the same standards as the most hardened criminals because the
circumstances surrounding their alleged crimes are different.
"Anybody who's a parent of a child in these situations believes their
child should be punished," Soler said. "But they also want every
circumstance considered." If not, Soler argues, no one gets everything
they want out of the justice system.
Despite his opposing views on how to combat juvenile crime, Ross pointed
out that something must be done to stop children from getting to the
point where they feel the need to start shooting people at their schools
or go on violent crime sprees.
"We have to start reaching out to these kids, talking to them, whether
it be at the home or at school, looking for signs before they even get
to that point," said Ross. "We have to figure out some way to reach
these kids."
Comment:
For various reasons, juvenile delinquency is painful. They violated laws during their adolescence, and the victims may die and may be sentenced to waste their good youth. Maybe they have a psychological problem. As parents, we should communicate with children in time, understand their current state and guide their children's healthy development. At the same time, the society should publicize relevant laws, and schools should strengthen safety construction.Students should strengthen their self-protection consciousness.
