KIDS AND CRIME

January 2000
		Should juveniles who commit serious crimes be treated as adults? Cabrini College criminal justice professor Linda Collier and Northeastern University criminal justice professor James Fox respond to your questions.

Forum introduction Should parents be liable for their children's behavior? Can children in detention be rehabilitated by the age of 21? Should children be given special rehabilitation? Does putting kids in adult prison essentially mean throwing them away? If kids can commit adult crimes, shouldn't they get adult punishment?   Jan. 14, 2000: The youngest person ever convicted of murder receives his sentence. Dec. 16, 1999: A new study examines violence in America. Browse Online NewsHour coverage of youth, the law and education.

Arianna Siegel of Berkeley, CA asks: In the case of Nathaniel Abraham, I disagree with the sentencing. Spending time in juvenile detention with an attempt at rehabilitation is fine, but without a mandatory review when he is 21, there is no guarantee that he'll be ready for release. What if he can't be rehabilitated in that space of time, or at all? He will still be released and become a public danger.   Linda Collier responds: Under the recently enacted Michigan Law, it was well within the judge's discretion to impose a blended sentence and reserve the right to review Nathaniel's case again in the next few years to see if he was truly being rehabilitated. More than a few adult prisoners receive a period of incarceration and are then paroled. Probation and parole both come with conditions and are the only two means by which the criminal justice system can monitor offenders. Since Nathaniel was merely given a juvenile sentence to be terminated at age 21, we will not have the opportunity to review his progress unless and when he commits another crime when he is released.   James Fox responds: The clock on his incarceration is ticking. By the time he is released at the age of 21, he will have served ten years for this second degree murder conviction (including the time he was held pre-trial). This, by the way, is on par with what adults generally serve for second degree murder (the average nationally is 11.5 years). The idea of waiting to see what he is like would amount to an indeterminate sentence. Why treat him differently than adults. If an adult offender reaches the end of his sentence, he gets out, rehabilitated or not. By the time Nathaniel is released, he will have served half his life behind bars, hardly a slap on the wrist.