Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 24, 1994 TAG: 9409270039
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
Then Vincent sauntered into Courtroom 55 - all of 4 feet, 7 inches, and weighing 80 pounds.
Sure enough, May had to rise up and lean over the bench to see the boy, who wore a smirk that did not express remorse.
The much-publicized case of 11-year-old Robert Sandifer was just an extreme example of what law-enforcement and criminal-justice experts say is a growing phenomenon. Sandifer, accused of killing a 14-year-old neighbor before he was executed, allegedly by his fellow gang members, has become a tragic poster child for a sad fact of life in the United States:
``Criminals are getting younger, and the crimes are more violent,'' said Kay Hanlon, who supervises the prosecutors at the Cook County Juvenile Courthouse.
Vincent - who, like Robert, is 11 - is well known in his South Side neighborhood for breaking into cars, stealing bikes, smashing a $2,000 picture window and spending half of fourth grade suspended from school.
``It's embarrassing that you're the smallest boy in court today,'' his sister, Yolanda, scolded after Vincent's case on charges of trying to destroy a neighbor's car was called and continued.
But if Vincent was one of the youngest and smallest children up on criminal charges this day, it wasn't by much. And he certainly wasn't the most violent of the boys.
One after another, youngsters in baggy jeans, some with T-shirts hanging down to their knees, stood before the judge, answering charges of selling or holding drugs, of carrying and using guns.
There was Edward, accused of raping his 6-year-old cousin two months after his 13th birthday. And ``Red,'' charged with sexually assaulting four boys and girls, all siblings, two months after he turned 15. The victims were 3, 4, 5 and 7 years old.
On any day in any courtroom in the Juvenile Courthouse, the judges see a steady parade of boys - and a very few girls - accused of acts ranging from spray painting to murder.
``It's scary,'' said prosecutor Susan Miller after spending her first three days in Juvenile Court.
According to national statistics, the parade goes on across the country.
Violent crime among all age groups - much of it gang- and drug-related - has increased dramatically, especially among juveniles, according to official statistics. At the same time, property crimes nationwide among juveniles and adults have fallen in the last decade, in part because criminals are turning away from burglary and theft to the more profitable drug trade.
Comparing 1986 and 1992, murders by all age groups were up 21 percent overall nationwide, rape by 7 percent and aggravated battery by 15 percent. But murders by juveniles 16 and under during the same period were up 96 percent; rape, 14 percent; and aggravated battery, 74 percent.
The growth in violent crime - and arrests for drug and weapons charges - by youngsters 12 and younger is even more dramatic, according to statistics.
Experts say they expect the growth in serious crimes committed by the nation's youngest criminals to accelerate.
``It [the Robert Sandifer case] is a major wake-up call,'' said Ira Schwartz, dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. ``It's also a warning that you can't solve the problem by trying more of them as adults and sending them off to prison. You need to rebuild communities.''
Experts point to familiar problems to find blame for the growth in violent juvenile crime - even among pre-teens barely into the double digits: inadequate schools, few services, minimal job opportunities and children having children.
With little encouragement to make it the right way, poor children - many of them abused and neglected - join street gangs, where they often get hooked into the ever-more-violent drug trade.
``Society has to decide for itself whether it wants to invest resources in children,'' said Karl Dennis, executive director of Kaleidoscope Inc., a Chicago not-for-profit firm that provides services to troubled teens and their families. ``If it doesn't, then we can expect to continue spending money on building penitentiaries. We will also be reading more stories about kids like Robert.''
by CNB