ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512210107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Gov. George Allen on Wednesday urged competing commissions to work together to make the juvenile justice system tougher on violent offenders and more helpful to youths who commit minor offenses.
Allen made the remarks upon receiving the final report of his Juvenile Justice Reform Commission, which recommended trying and punishing the worst young criminals as adults and imposing military-style discipline on others.
A separate legislative commission is recommending changes that focus more on rehabilitation of wayward youths. The General Assembly will consider the recommendations in the session that begins Jan. 10.
Allen said he hopes legislators will take the work of both commissions ``and forge a package of juvenile justice reforms that will earn the same overwhelming, bipartisan support that our parole abolition and truth-in-sentencing proposals received just over a year ago.'' Such cooperation would produce a system that protects law-abiding citizens while giving a second chance to troubled youths who want to turn their lives around, he said.
Allen's plea was in keeping with a more conciliatory tone he has taken with the Democrat-controlled General Assembly since his campaign for a GOP majority failed in last month's legislative elections.
Perhaps the most significant recommendation of the Allen commission is automatically trying as an adult any juvenile 14 or older who is charged with murder, rape or armed robbery. They would be housed in a separate prison
Attorney General Jim Gilmore, commission chairman, said the report recognizes that no more than 5 percent of juvenile offenders ``are essentially hardened criminals.''
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB