Animals
Youth advocates say 17-year-olds are better off in a juvenile system geared toward rehabilitation than alongside adult criminals in prison. While juvenile records are generally sealed, an adult conviction can limit a teen's college or career prospects.
"When you place a child in the adult criminal justice system, they're more likely to re-offend," said Liz Ryan, president and chief executive of the Campaign for Youth Justice. "So you're going to be paying for them again and again."
Some police and prosecutors, however, have said they support trying 17-year-olds as adults. New Haven, Conn., Police Chief Francisco Ortiz opposed Connecticut's decision to move the age to 18. He said 16- and 17-year-olds are old enough to face the consequences of their actions like adults.
Rhode Island Chief Family Court Judge Jeremiah Jeremiah said teens get important services in family court that they can't get in the adult system. Young people accused of drunken driving, for example, are taken to hospitals on weekends to see what possible consequences could have come from their actions.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said he already had the discretion to try those younger than 18 as adults, but that he rarely did so because he believes family court can turn children around. The new law leaves him no choice about what to do with 17-year-old defendants, Lynch said.
We don't allow teens to vote until they are 18, I think it is disgraceful that they will be treated as adults in criminal cases.
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Animals
Disgraceful
Youth advocates say 17-year-olds are better off in a juvenile system geared toward rehabilitation than alongside adult criminals in prison. While juvenile records are generally sealed, an adult conviction can limit a teen's college or career prospects.
"When you place a child in the adult criminal justice system, they're more likely to re-offend," said Liz Ryan, president and chief executive of the Campaign for Youth Justice. "So you're going to be paying for them again and again."
Some police and prosecutors, however, have said they support trying 17-year-olds as adults. New Haven, Conn., Police Chief Francisco Ortiz opposed Connecticut's decision to move the age to 18. He said 16- and 17-year-olds are old enough to face the consequences of their actions like adults.
Rhode Island Chief Family Court Judge Jeremiah Jeremiah said teens get important services in family court that they can't get in the adult system. Young people accused of drunken driving, for example, are taken to hospitals on weekends to see what possible consequences could have come from their actions.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said he already had the discretion to try those younger than 18 as adults, but that he rarely did so because he believes family court can turn children around. The new law leaves him no choice about what to do with 17-year-old defendants, Lynch said.
We don't allow teens to vote until they are 18, I think it is disgraceful that they will be treated as adults in criminal cases.
- Sex Education Classes Are Lacking According To Wilson
Lawyers and health educators say most teens - and even many parents - are unaware that even consensual teenage sex is often a crime. The patchwork of laws and ages from state to state leaves many confused and critics say more education is badly needed....
- Teacher Sex Abuse Scars Family, Town
AP reporters in every state and the District of Columbia identified 2,570 teachers who were punished for sexual misconduct from 2001 to 2005 alone, for actions that ranged from fondling to viewing child pornography to rape. Though experts who deal with...
- Public School Teachers And Sexual Misconduct
Richland High School teacher was sentenced to 40 years for having sex with two students. A teacher in Tupelo got 18 years for a similar crime. But a teacher in Clarksdale, who was accused of giving an eighth-grade student gonorrhea, struck a deal with...
- We Must Stop Bullying
Officials did nothing to stop students from teasing Eric Hainstock despite complaints, a friend testified Wednesday at a hearing to determine whether adult charges should stand in the shooting death of the teenagers' school principal. Other kids...
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Probably the biggest problem South Mississippi law-enforcement officials face is stopping people from riding ATVs on public roads and keeping children off adult-sized vehicles. That was the case several years ago when two 11-year-olds ran a stop sign...