Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510250059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I'm 17 years old," she told a state panel that wants to get tougher on juvenile crime. "And I came to speak on behalf of the juveniles that you guys are talking about.
"I don't think you have any rehabilitation at all going on," said Hudson, who spent time in a juvenile correctional center for forging one of her mother's checks to buy a pizza. "I feel like you're just taking us and throwing us away."
Hudson's comments, made at a public hearing of the Governor's Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform in Roanoke, were some of the most pointed during an evening in which most of the speakers applauded the panel's recommendations.
The commission is proposing sweeping changes to the state's juvenile justice system - mandating adult trials for youths 14 and older charged with violent offenses, opening the juvenile courts to the public, and making military-style discipline and boot camps a part of juvenile punishments.
Critics say the proposals do little to address prevention of juvenile crime.
Hudson first got into trouble skipping school at an early age, she said, but "I never even met a truancy officer until I was in the eighth grade."
"I think there should have been some sort of program for me," she told the panel.
With statistics showing an alarming increase in violent crimes committed by juveniles, the key focus of the commission, however, has been on punitive sanctions aimed at the youths whose crimes are far worse than Hudson's.
"The juvenile justice system is broken and in drastic need of being fixed," said Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell, who, as the first speaker to address the commission, set the tone for most of the hearing.
Of the 15 people who spoke from a crowd of about 50, 12 were strong supporters of the panel's recommendations.
The commission also is studying the idea of giving prosecutors the power to ask for adult trials for youths younger than 14, creating regional alternative education centers for youths who disrupt school, and rewriting the law that outlines the juvenile court's philosophy to make public safety the main objective, instead of the welfare of the juvenile.
The commission, headed by Attorney General Jim Gilmore, is expected to release its final report in December, about the same time that a second, bipartisan panel appointed by the General Assembly completes its work.
A third study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission also is expected to be completed in time for the General Assembly to take up the recommendations at its 1996 session.
In a presentation before the public hearing began, the commission provided a backdrop of statistics that show an alarming increase in juvenile crime across Virginia.
The state's juvenile crime rate increased by 21 percent from 1980 to 1993, for example, while the national rate decreased 4 percent during the same period. The murder arrest rate for juveniles quadrupled from 1987 to 1993, according to the state's Department of Criminal Justice Services.
Two people who spoke Tuesday night tempered their support for change with concerns about the lack of prevention efforts, leaving Hudson as the last speaker - and perhaps the one who left the most lasting impression.
After the hearing, Sen. Benjamin Lambert, a Richmond Democrat who serves on the commission, walked up to Hudson in the hallway outside Roanoke City Council chambers and shook her hand.
"We learned more from you than anyone else out there tonight," he told her.
by CNB