CONNECTICUT

Lawmakers change juvenile justice guidelines

Youth advocates and lawmakers are celebrating the passage of several reforms designed to better serve teens in the state's juvenile justice system.
The reforms — approved quietly during the 2005 legislative session — will substantially change the way courts handle adolescents.
A key bill involves how courts view 16- and 17-year-olds. Though everyone 16 and older is handled in the adult court system, the new law will allow judges to treat most teens as youthful offenders.
“It's basically saying if you're 16 or 17, unless you do something really bad, you don't have to worry about having an adult record. Even if you're going to be punished, even if you go to jail,” said Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, who leads the Judiciary Committee.

The change means an additional 900 teens a year will likely qualify for the program. Currently, 3,500 teens are on probation in the youthful offender program and 50 are incarcerated, according to the legislature's Office of Fiscal Analysis.
The program wipes a teen's criminal record clean if he or she successfully completes a sentence. That means high school students who made mistakes like smoking marijuana or shoplifting won't be burdened with criminal records for life, Lawlor said.
Teens who commit serious crimes — such as murder or sexual assault — will not be eligible.
Connecticut, New York and North Carolina are the only states where teens 16 and older are treated as adults in court.

Judicial experts examined the feasibility of changing Connecticut's age limit last year.

They concluded that older teens have different psychological and emotional needs and that the spike in population would overwhelm the juvenile system. But advocates say that 16- and 17-year-olds handled in the adult court system commit suicide more often and are more likely to get in trouble again.
Fernando Muniz, executive director of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, said he hopes the bill is a stepping stone to moving 16- and 17-year-olds into the juvenile system.
“Our age of adulthood in adult court is completely inconsistent with about every other policy we have,” Muniz said. “The legislature has restricted the way that 16-year-olds can drive because we can't trust them to make good decisions. It's inconsistent.”
Not everyone in the juvenile justice system supports the change.
Judge Michael Mack, the state's deputy chief court administrator, who until recently was chief administrative judge for juvenile matters, said lawmakers should have included more funding for counseling, rehabilitation and other services that will be needed if more teens are classified as youthful offenders.

“I'm not saying this is a bad bill, I'm saying they've missed an opportunity to make it a good bill,” Mack said. “The fact that more kids may avail themselves of the youthful offender program on its own is a good thing. But let's do something for them.”
Another key bill changed the way judges can handle teens in trouble for repeatedly missing school or running away. Lawmakers removed the option of sending such teens to juvenile detention facilities for violating court orders.
For example, a judge may order a teen to go to school or participate in a certain type of treatment program.
Lawmakers say the change will keep teens out of juvenile detention if they don't really need to be there, but Mack said he's concerned that judges won't have a way to keep high-risk teens safe.
The bills passed in the final days of the legislative session and are on their way to Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

The session also marked a critical turning point for the embattled Connecticut Juvenile Training School.

Noreen Gillespie
11 June 2005

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct-xgr--juvenilejusti0611jun11,0,5261421.story?coll=ny-region-apconnecticut

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