Returning to the Dark Ages of Ju

Returning to the Dark Ages of Juvenile Justice

With characteristic grandstanding and hyperbole the United States Congress is about to blindly accelerate the nation's return to the dark ages of juvenile justice. The bill (known as "Juvenile Crime Control Act of 1997") represents a classic example of our continuous "war on crime" that is based less on facts than on media hype, exaggerations, stereotypes and anecdotal evidence. The bill seeks to treat as adults teenagers as young as 13, first at the federal level and ultimately at the state level, since the states will be tempted by the lure of money. The bill also makes juvenile court records permanently public.

The Bill's premise according to its leading proponent, Republican Congressman Bill McCollum of Florida, is that tougher punishment equals less crime. Lost in the hype and "macho" posturing by our elected officials are some important facts: (1) it is the adults, not teenagers, who commit the bulk of violent crime; (2) we are already super-tough on violent crime and so the effect of such legislation will be negligible, as studies consistently show; (3) such an approach is inherently destructive and produces little more than angry adults and hardened criminals; (4) the vast majority (up to 90% according to one recent study) of those juveniles waived to adult court will are African-American males and poor youths, so this practice is inherently class and racially biased. (Too often the stereotypes of the "dangerous criminal" have a black or brown face.); (5) getting tough on crime has a sort of "trickle down" effect.

Since we are already super-tough on the most serious crimes (especially violent crimes) this type of legislation has had the effect of increasing the penalties on lesser crimes or even prompting attempts by criminal justice officials to crack down on relatively minor crimes. (Witness the punitive attitude displayed in Las Vegas recently toward the 9-year old "felon" who wrote his name and the name of some of his friends on a new sidewalk.)

Contrary to popular belief the juvenile justice system has historically mirrored the adult justice system with an emphasis on harsh treatment and stigmatization. Congress did, in 1974, try to reverse this trend with the passage of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which was to try and end the practice of housing youths in adult jails and prisons. This legislation resulted from voluminous and wrenching testimony detailing brutal mistreatment of youths in adult jails. Instead of learning the value of good behavior, suicides and beatings were more often the norm.

McCollum's legislation will reverse this Act and promote incidents like the case of Rodney Hulin. Convicted at age 16 for causing $500 in property damage, Rodney was committed to an adult prison in Texas by a judge who wanted to "teach him a lesson." For the next year and a half he was repeatedly raped and sodomized by older inmates while guards scorned his pleas for help. In shocking letters home, he graphically described his ordeal while begging his father to get him out. On January 26, 1996, no longer able to endure the constant terror, Rodney committed suicide by hanging himself.

Rodney's case puts a human face on statistics that show juveniles confined in adult facilities are seven times more likely to commit suicide and five times more likely to be sexually assaulted. There have been many others like Rodney over the years.

The new legislation also mandates that states adopt Florida's approach of expediting massive transfers of youths to adult court by eliminating judicial review. Currently, 48 states allow judges to consider evidence about the youth's amenability to juvenile court treatment. Scott Fillipi was 16 years old when he appeared in juvenile court (San Francisco) for the murder of his mother. After hearing about the youth's remorse and the unconscionable physical and verbal abuse that preceded the crime, the conservative Republican judge ordered Scott retained in the juvenile court, satisfied that he was redeemable. Scott was placed in a rehabilitation program. After graduating from the program at age 18, Scott enlisted in the army and eventually served on President's Bush's honor guard. If convicted as an adult Scott might be serving a life sentence. Instead, he is now a successful accountant in Los Angeles.

Despite its wholesale transfer of youths to the adult court, Florida consistently ranks among the top two states in violent juvenile crime rates. Even more ominous, a recent study by researchers from Florida State University found that transferring youths to adult court accelerates their criminal behavior upon release.

The final provision of the Juvenile Crime Bill of 1997 requires full public disclosure of juvenile records. Despite evidence showing gainful employment to be the most effective crime control policy, this provision creates permanent impediments to later opportunity. Relatively minor offenses, such as a school yard fight or shoplifting committed at age 16 will remain public information for the rest of a person's life.

The juvenile crime legislation presently before congress is a politically expedient and opportunistic attempt to exploit public fears about juvenile crime. If punitive measures such as this one promoted healthy behavior we would be celebrating the success of our prison systems. Sadly, we are not, despite the fact that we as a nation lead the world in incarceration - and violent crime. (Our own state of Nevada has consistently ranked in the top five in U.S. incarceration rates, which with the coming boom in prison construction, could push us close to the number 1 position.) Because most youths who enter the juvenile justice system have spent much of their short lives being beaten, kicked, starved, punched, rejected, and abandoned, similar treatment administered by the state simply reinforces the view that cruelty and violence are legitimate and universal. This is not a message that serves society's best interest.

In her study on the self-destructive tendencies of declining civilizations, historian Barbara Tuchman defines folly as government policy that is perceived as counterproductive but is nevertheless adopted - even when an alternative exists. In this instance, senselessly harsh juvenile crime control practices have long been recognized as ineffective and counterproductive, but continue solely for political reasons. (The designers of such bills never seem to look beyond the next election.)

This article was co-authored by Dan Macallair, Executive Director, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco, California.

Update: See the web site for Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (www.cjcj.org) for continual updates on juvenile justice matters. For an excellent critique of juvenile justice see Jerome Miller=s Last One Over the Wall (2nd ed.). Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1999. The crime bill discussed here did not pass, thanks largely to some effective lobbying by reform groups, including the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.