OBSERVATIONS, REPORTS, TIPS, REFERRALS AND TIRADES
BY ERIC ZORN
Almost as shocking as the accusation that two 12-year-old girls from near Milwaukee stabbed a friend nearly to death Saturday was the news that authorities are charging the girls as adults.
Adults? Anyone who has ever lived with 12-year-olds — and my wife and I have reared three — knows that they're impulsive, naive and malleable by nature. Delightful as they can be, you wouldn't trust them to vote, drive, carry guns, have sex or drink alcohol responsibly. You wouldn't leave them home alone for a weekend.
Because they're children.
They lack the temperament, maturity, life experience and independent judgment we expect of adults. They are especially susceptible to whim and peer pressure. Even the best of them say and do stupid things.
And yes, the worst of them say and do horrific things.
In this particular case, police say, the girls lured their victim into the woods and stabbed her 19 times in order to win the approval of Slender Man, the faceless predator in a series of online tales of fantasy violence.
We'd consider an adult who committed such a bizarre act to be a sociopath. But a 12-year-old?
"The susceptibility of juveniles to immature and irresponsible behavior means their irresponsible conduct is not as morally reprehensible as that of an adult," wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority in a 2005 opinion involving a 17-year-old convicted of murder and sentenced to death. "Their own vulnerability and comparative lack of control over their immediate surroundings mean juveniles have a greater claim than adults to be forgiven for failing to escape negative influences in their whole environment."
Kennedy went on, "From a moral standpoint it would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult, for a greater possibility exists that a minor's character deficiencies will be reformed. Indeed, the relevance of youth as a mitigating factor derives from the fact that the signature qualities of youth are transient; as individuals mature, the impetuousness and recklessness that may dominate in younger years can subside."
Modern lab studies have confirmed what common sense has long told us: Adolescent brains, tempests of hormones, aren't fully hooked up yet.
That, in so many words, was the guiding insight of the formation of a system of juvenile justice in the United States in 1899. When kids go wrong, even terribly wrong, it's not only fair but smart and cost-effective to try to rehabilitate them in time for adulthood; to give them a chance to put their childhood transgressions behind them; to make treatment not punishment, the No. 1 goal.
But as part of a crackdown on juvenile crime that began in the late 1970s, states began passing laws allowing for the worst offenders to be tried and sentenced as adults no matter what their age. In a famous 1989 case, prosecutors in Pennsylvania charged a 9-year-old boy as an adult for shooting and killing a girl in his neighborhood after they fought over a video game.
The move to punish children as though they're grown-ups was, ironically, akin to a national temper tantrum in which rage overtook reason. "All the evidence shows that if you put kids into the adult system, they're more likely to re-offend down the line," said Emily Keller, a staff attorney for the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia."In most instances there's a huge potential for rehabilitation."
Not always, obviously. Sometimes the bad seeds simply sprout early.
But as Justice Kennedy put it, "It is difficult even for expert psychologists to differentiate between the juvenile offender whose crime reflects unfortunate yet transient immaturity, and the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption."
It can be a tough call when offenders are nearly 18. But when they're 12, the demands of justice, public safety, compassion and wisdom are in perfect alignment and direct opposition to Wisconsin's dismaying overreaction.
Treat them as the children they are.
LINKS AND RESOURCES
Trying juveniles as adults: an analysis of state transfer laws and reporting. US Department of Justice, September, 2011
Roper v Simmons (2005) (Highlighted by the Juvenile Law Project)
Miller v Alabama (2012)(Highlighted by the Juvenile Law Project)
State Trends Legislative Victories from 2011-2013 Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System The Campaign for Youth and Justice, 2013
From time out to hard time, young children in the adult criminal justice system, Special Project Report Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs The University of Texas at Austin (2009)
Wisconsin stabbing highlights juvenile crime laws, Associated Press, June 5, 2014.
Kids should never be tried as adults by Robert Schwartz co-founder, Juvenile Law Center (Feb. 2010)
PBS "Frontline" on juvenile justice, adult courts and sentencing
BY ERIC ZORN
Almost as shocking as the accusation that two 12-year-old girls from near Milwaukee stabbed a friend nearly to death Saturday was the news that authorities are charging the girls as adults.
Adults? Anyone who has ever lived with 12-year-olds — and my wife and I have reared three — knows that they're impulsive, naive and malleable by nature. Delightful as they can be, you wouldn't trust them to vote, drive, carry guns, have sex or drink alcohol responsibly. You wouldn't leave them home alone for a weekend.
Because they're children.
They lack the temperament, maturity, life experience and independent judgment we expect of adults. They are especially susceptible to whim and peer pressure. Even the best of them say and do stupid things.
And yes, the worst of them say and do horrific things.
In this particular case, police say, the girls lured their victim into the woods and stabbed her 19 times in order to win the approval of Slender Man, the faceless predator in a series of online tales of fantasy violence.
We'd consider an adult who committed such a bizarre act to be a sociopath. But a 12-year-old?
"The susceptibility of juveniles to immature and irresponsible behavior means their irresponsible conduct is not as morally reprehensible as that of an adult," wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority in a 2005 opinion involving a 17-year-old convicted of murder and sentenced to death. "Their own vulnerability and comparative lack of control over their immediate surroundings mean juveniles have a greater claim than adults to be forgiven for failing to escape negative influences in their whole environment."
Kennedy went on, "From a moral standpoint it would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult, for a greater possibility exists that a minor's character deficiencies will be reformed. Indeed, the relevance of youth as a mitigating factor derives from the fact that the signature qualities of youth are transient; as individuals mature, the impetuousness and recklessness that may dominate in younger years can subside."
Modern lab studies have confirmed what common sense has long told us: Adolescent brains, tempests of hormones, aren't fully hooked up yet.
That, in so many words, was the guiding insight of the formation of a system of juvenile justice in the United States in 1899. When kids go wrong, even terribly wrong, it's not only fair but smart and cost-effective to try to rehabilitate them in time for adulthood; to give them a chance to put their childhood transgressions behind them; to make treatment not punishment, the No. 1 goal.
But as part of a crackdown on juvenile crime that began in the late 1970s, states began passing laws allowing for the worst offenders to be tried and sentenced as adults no matter what their age. In a famous 1989 case, prosecutors in Pennsylvania charged a 9-year-old boy as an adult for shooting and killing a girl in his neighborhood after they fought over a video game.
The move to punish children as though they're grown-ups was, ironically, akin to a national temper tantrum in which rage overtook reason. "All the evidence shows that if you put kids into the adult system, they're more likely to re-offend down the line," said Emily Keller, a staff attorney for the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia."In most instances there's a huge potential for rehabilitation."
Not always, obviously. Sometimes the bad seeds simply sprout early.
But as Justice Kennedy put it, "It is difficult even for expert psychologists to differentiate between the juvenile offender whose crime reflects unfortunate yet transient immaturity, and the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption."
It can be a tough call when offenders are nearly 18. But when they're 12, the demands of justice, public safety, compassion and wisdom are in perfect alignment and direct opposition to Wisconsin's dismaying overreaction.
Treat them as the children they are.
LINKS AND RESOURCES
Trying juveniles as adults: an analysis of state transfer laws and reporting. US Department of Justice, September, 2011
Roper v Simmons (2005) (Highlighted by the Juvenile Law Project)
Miller v Alabama (2012)(Highlighted by the Juvenile Law Project)
State Trends Legislative Victories from 2011-2013 Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System The Campaign for Youth and Justice, 2013
From time out to hard time, young children in the adult criminal justice system, Special Project Report Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs The University of Texas at Austin (2009)
Wisconsin stabbing highlights juvenile crime laws, Associated Press, June 5, 2014.
Kids should never be tried as adults by Robert Schwartz co-founder, Juvenile Law Center (Feb. 2010)
PBS "Frontline" on juvenile justice, adult courts and sentencing