THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409120024
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Special Report
SERIES: Facing the Fear: Paying the Price
This series is a combined project of The Associated Press, the Newport
News Daily Press, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Roanoke Times &
World-News, and The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
SOURCE: BY LAURENCE HAMMACK, ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
Virginia's future criminals - the ones predicted to lead the state into a new century of increased violence and fear - are among us today.
They are playing in city parks, or studying in elementary school classrooms. Some are still wearing diapers. When they reach their teens, they will form the largest population of 13- to 17-year-olds that Virginia has seen in decades. And, as they enter their most crime-prone years, crime rates will soar, experts predict.
While Gov. George Allen pledges to ``stop the bleeding'' by abolishing parole and making criminals serve longer sentences, critics fear the high cost of the Allen plan will divert new money from programs that target at-risk children.
Instead of addressing the root causes of crime, the Allen administration seems more intent on building prisons to house the results, says Jerry Miller of the Alexandria-based National Center on Institutions and Alternatives. ``They're looking at these kids and they're writing them off,'' said Miller, who has headed juvenile justice systems in three states.
Robert Shepherd, a University of Richmond law professor and member of a Commission on Youth task force that studied serious juvenile offenders, wants to see the criminal justice system ``get smart, and not just get tough.''
``We need to be focusing our sights on, and placing more resources in, prevention rather than simply in interdiction,'' Shepherd wrote in a dissent to the task force's report. The group recommended laws lowering the age at which juveniles can be tried as adults and letting juvenile court judges set longer sentences. ``As a society, we are clearly backloading the system,'' Shepherd said. ``We're putting all of the resources into policing, prosecuting and incarcerating, and very little into diminishing the number of individuals who are participating in crime.''
More cases, less money
The Allen plan said reforms in the juvenile system should not be considered until next year.
Some critics worry that the juvenile justice system, underfunded for years, will receive even fewer resources as Allen's proposal shifts attention to adult corrections.
Meanwhile, the system must cope with soaring caseloads, overloaded juvenile probation officers and dangerously overcrowded detention centers.
The number of new cases in Virginia's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts increased by 9 percent last year, while caseloads in the state's other trial courts - General District and Circuit Court - remained stable or decreased, according to the 1993 State of the Judiciary Report.
And 18 months after a report detailed crowding and sometimes dangerous conditions in the state's juvenile detention centers, overcrowding has become even worse. The report, compiled by the Youth Law Center of San Francisco, described detention centers so packed that some youths were sleeping in bathrooms, and others that were locked up for as long as 18 hours a day.
A new law that allows juvenile court judges to set longer sentences is expected to worsen overcrowding. The state's seven learning centers - operating at more than 100 juveniles above their 725-person capacity - are expected to see their population rise by 1,200 by 1998.
With no short-term solutions to overcrowding in sight, judges and juvenile court officials say more emphasis must be placed on prevention and intervention programs that identify high-risk youths before they turn to crime.
The problem is, it's impossible to identify future criminals with any certainty. Still, most at-risk children usually come from low-income and troubled families, often headed by a single parent, and have experienced educational and emotional problems at an early age.
Sobering statistics
By the time many youths are sent to the state's learning centers, the ingredients are evident. Of the 1,470 juveniles committed to the centers in 1993:
Only 14 percent were living with both natural parents when they were committed. Forty percent were living with their mother only, 15 percent with one natural parent or stepparent, and 7 percent with their grandparents.
Forty-three percent had been identified as requiring special education.
Forty-three percent reported a history of abusing drugs or alcohol; 16 percent had been physically abused; 9 percent had been sexually abused.
Twenty-five percent of the youths had been previously committed to the Department of Youth and Family Services; 56 percent had a history of assaulting their peers; and 30 percent had a history of weapon possession.
Only 13 percent were attending school regularly when they were committed. Seventeen percent occasionally missed school, and 65 percent were often truant or not attending school at all.
Perhaps the biggest factor on a young person's development is parental supervision - or the lack of it. ``There is no getting around the truth that there is an ever-increasing number of people having children who don't know what they're doing,'' Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Philip Trompeter said. ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHICS
STAFF
JUVENILE ARRESTS
The number of juveniles arrested in Virginia for violent crimes rose
59 percent from 1987 to 1993. SOURCE: Commission on Youth
graphic/analysis of state police uniform crime reports 1987-1993.
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
YOUNG KILLERS
This chart shows the age distribution for murder and non-negligent
manslaughter arrests for Virginia last year. Non-negligent
manslaughter is an unpremeditated slaying that occurs in the heat of
passion as a result of provocation or mutual combat.
SOURCE: Virginia Department of Criminal justice Services.
TIMES-DISPATCH, AP
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: SERIES PAROLE VIRGINIA by CNB