Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510250032
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WILLIAM C. MIMS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
More murders in Virginia are committed by 15- to 19-year-olds than by any other age group. Since 1980, murders, rapes and robberies by juveniles in Virginia have increased by more than twice the national average.
During the 1993-94 school year, 373 students were apprehended with firearms in Virginia's schools - more than half of those caught were in seventh, eighth or ninth grades. During that same year, there were 555 physical assaults in our schools resulting in serious injuries and more than 1,600 reported drug violations. These numbers pale in comparison with the out-of-school incidents in our neighborhoods.
Criminologists may point to the breakdown of the family and a pervasive sense of hopelessness as root causes of this epidemic. Yet it is now painfully obvious that Virginia's juvenile crime laws do little to stop it from spreading throughout our schools and communities.
As the Governor's Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform recently concluded, our juvenile-justice system cannot cope with serious violent offenders. The system is broken. It was designed for a bygone era when vandalism and childish pranks - rather than murder and rape - were the problems.
The language of the juvenile code gives the lie to any assertion that it is adequate for these troubled times. Juvenile "crime" is not mentioned; rather, murder and rape euphemistically are called "delinquent acts." Juvenile criminals are not "guilty"; rather they are "delinquent." Perhaps most telling, the code explicitly states that the welfare of the "child" - even if that child is a vicious 17-year old gang leader - is more important than the welfare of victims and law-abiding citizens.
Under the current system, that 17-year old will go free no later than his 21st birthday, and he knows it. As a tool to prevent repeat violent crime, this is nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Led by Attorney General Jim Gilmore, the governor's commission has just endorsed 27 common-sense recommendations to combat serious juvenile crime more effectively.
The commission recommended that high-school-age violent felons who terrorize our schools and neighborhoods should be tried and sentenced as adults. No more mandatory release as a 21st-birthday present. The word needs to get out on the streets: If you do the adult crime, you will do the adult time.
Additionally, juvenile judges should be given more tools to deter and punish teen-age offenders. Presently, most crimes - or "delinquent acts" - are required to have indeterminate sentences. In other words, the judge sends the offender into the state juvenile-corrections system, but that judge has no say over when he will be released. It might be a year or more, or it might be mere months. The commission would give juvenile judges the ability to set mandatory minimum sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crime.
Also, military-style "boot camp" programs should be available in each region as a sentencing option. In 1994, only 25 juveniles were referred to Virginia's pilot boot-camp program, despite strong evidence that this enforced discipline concept is effective for older juveniles.
Even the name of the state agency that administers the juvenile-justice system should be changed. The Department of Youth and Family Services is confusing to the public. It is not a social-service agency. Rather, it is responsible for public safety, including the incarceration - and, hopefully, the rehabilitation - of the most serious offenders. If it were renamed the Department of Juvenile Justice, as recommended by the commission, this serious purpose would be communicated more clearly.
The commission recognized that all juvenile offenders are not hardened criminals. Rather, some are confused, lonely and angry kids.
For those who have begun a pattern of anti-social behavior but have not yet committed serious violent crimes, alternative-education programs are recommended. Such programs remove these kids from their regular school environment and provide the individual attention that might get them back on track. These programs also benefit all students who remain in regular classrooms, since the learning environment is disrupted less by troubled kids.
Fundamental reform of our juvenile justice system will not be easy. And it will not be inexpensive. But it must be accomplished. The safety and the future of our children, our schools, and our neighborhoods hangs in the balance.
William C. Mims, a Republican member of the House of Delegates from Northern Virginia, is on the executive committee of the Governor's Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform.
by CNB