THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080552
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
Lawmakers are putting the finishing touches on legislation that will make Virginia among the toughest states in the nation on juvenile offenders, calling for youths as young as 14 to be tried automatically in adult court for murder and violent assault.
Currently, only 14 states have laws that call for juveniles 14 or younger to be tried automatically as adults for serious crimes.
The new law also would give prosecutors the option of trying juveniles in adult court for a second tier of serious crimes. Only 11 states and the District of Columbia currently give prosecutors that power, which is usually reserved for judges.
Virginia will be ``significantly tougher than before'' on juvenile offenders, said Melissa Sickmund, one of the authors of a 1995 national report on juvenile crime. ``But you're not the toughest. You're not up there with New York.''
In New York, youths as young as 7 can be tried as adults in rare cases.
Another key provision of the Virginia legislation requires opening juvenile court hearings and records of youths 14 or older charged with a felony. Only about eight states go that far in legislating public access, according to Neal Miller, an attorney with the Institute for Law and Justice, a nonprofit research organization in Alexandria. About half the states allow limited public access.
The fine-tuning of the bill comes after months of wrangling by two commissions - one shepherded by the governor's office and the other led by Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk. A final vote is expected today or Saturday, when the General Assembly adjourns.
Lawmakers on both sides now agree on the major elements of reform, including automatically trying some juveniles as adults and allowing prosecutors to choose the court for certain offenses. Legislators also agree on opening courts and records to the public, although there are a few details to be resolved.
The proposals in their current form have softened significantly from earlier versions. For instance, at one point, the governor's commission proposed no minimum age for trying juveniles as adults for certain offenses. Five states now have such a law.
Among the issues still to be resolved are the enactment date. The House version calls for the law to take effect July 1, with the Senate version to be effective on Jan. 1, 1997.
Both bills allow DNA tests for juveniles 14 and older charged with a felony. The Senate version broadens that to include youths as young as 10 if they have been committed to a juvenile correctional center.
The real impact of the provision that would allow prosecutors to bring charges in adult court remains to be seen, Sickmund said.
``Part of the toughness is in the legislation, but part of the toughness is in the use of it,'' she said. ''
At least one of the critics who had voiced reservations is happier with the current versions.
``Virginia is still relatively moderate, even with this,'' said Linda Nablo, senior policy analyst at the Action Alliance for Virginia's Children and Youth. ``As a whole package, it has turned out to be a more balanced and more moderate approach than we feared.''
Nablo said she is concerned that this legislation will open the door to other laws that would send juveniles who commit lesser crimes to adult court.
``The fear is that people will be transferred to the adult system as an answer to more and more crimes at younger ages,'' she said.
With the ink not yet dry on any final version, some national experts caution that for all the bluster, such juvenile court reforms are likely to have little effect.
Barry Feld, a law professor at the University of Minnesota law school, has studied the nationwide trend of states taking a tougher stance on youth crime.
Last year, lawmakers in Minnesota decided that 16- and 17-year-olds charged with first-degree murder should automatically be tried as adults. It was largely a symbolic gesture, he said, because juvenile judges already were sending those youths to adult court for trial.
``It was a way for the legislature to appear to get tough without having any significant impact on the administration of the juvenile or criminal justice systems,'' he said.
Florida has been one of the pioneering states in giving prosecutors discretion on whether to pursue a case in juvenile or adult court. Last year, Florida legislators said prosecutors may choose the court for offenders as young as 14 who are charged with certain crimes. The age used to be 16. Florida officials are expecting their caseload to increase by 5,000, Feld said.
Feld warns that one of the dangers of putting such decisions in the hands of prosecutors is increasingly uneven treatment of offenders - a phenomenon experts call ``justice by geography.'' A year-long study by The Virginian-Pilot showed that uneven prosecution already is a problem in Virginia; a disproportionately high number of youths from Southeastern Virginia are committed to correctional centers.
Feld also predicts higher numbers of minority offenders will be caught in the net of the new law. In Virginia, black youths currently are locked up in correctional centers twice as often as whites, based on a review of 3,000 cases by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
Feld and others support opening juvenile proceedings and records to public scrutiny.
``The value is to make the juvenile justice system accountable,'' he said. ``As long as they can happen in closed door proceedings, the juvenile judges can act with impunity.''
As an Associate Judge with the Superior Court in Washington, Reggie B. Walton has been listening as Virginia lawmakers work to revamp juvenile law. Walton favors opening the courts in at least some cases.
``It probably is a myth to believe these events are confidential,'' he said. ``The people in the neighborhood know. You have to weigh the public benefit of keeping the policy behind closed doors. . . I think the shame factor is important. We've taken shame out of the mix when it comes to sanctions.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ROBERT D. VOROS/The Virginian-Pilot
JUVENILES TRIED AS ADULTS IN AMERICA
SOURCE: Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National Report published
by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1995.
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY YOUTH CRIME JUVENILE by CNB