" |
 |
| "Arkansas' Voice on the Internet" | Previous Features / Investigations |
 |
|
 Group mulls blended terms for young offenders RAY PIERCE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE The Governor's Working Group on Juvenile Justice may recommend blended sentences for youthful offenders, and the recommendation may become part of Gov. Mike Huckabee's legislative package. Connie Hickman Tanner, juvenile courts coordinator for the Administrative Office of the Courts and a member of the working group's legal subcommittee, said Wednesday that her subgroup will vote to have blended sentences included in the working group's recommendations. "It just depends on what kind," she said. A blended sentence means a youth convicted of a crime will be sentenced to time in the juvenile justice system and then once he's older be transferred to the adult system if authorities decide he should not be released. Youths judged delinquent for major crimes in Arkansas go to juvenile facilities and generally don't stay in state custody past their 18th birthday. Tanner said Arkansas has a law, rarely used, that allows circuit judges to send youthful offenders to the Division of Youth Services rather than to prison. Because of that, Arkansas is described in some quarters as a blended-sentence state. Like many juvenile court judges in Arkansas, Tanner prefers a system under which juvenile court judges have discretion to extend a youth's sentence to adult prison if the offender hasn't been rehabilitated in the juvenile system. "But that's coupled with the appropriate funding [from the Legislature] for the juvenile justice system, which has never been adequately funded for rehabilitation," she said. Tanner said research from Florida and Texas indicates that youths coming out of adult prisons commit more crimes and commit them more quickly than do youths who went through the juvenile system. "The adult courts hasn't seemed to be the answer," she said. The working group was assembled by Huckabee after the March 24 shootings at Westside Middle School near Jonesboro. Westside students Natalie Brooks, Paige Ann Herring, Stephanie Johnson and Britthney Varner and teacher Shannon Wright were killed in the ambush. Ten others were wounded. Two boys, ages 12 and 13, are charged in the shootings. The study group will recommend juvenile-code changes to Huckabee. The four subcommittees are to have their reports ready by early September. The working group heard from representatives of Let Our Violence End, an outreach and support group for at-risk youth. Listening to young people and their problems is among the most important things adults can do for children, said Robert Holt of Little Rock, an organization leader. "We have forgotten, and this isn't sexual, how to love one another," he said. "If we can help people who are hurting, we may be able to prevent them from hurting someone else." Melissa Key, 17, a senior at Little Rock's McClellan High School, said the organization dissuaded her from joining gangs, having a bad attitude or using bad language. "You have to ask a kid what's wrong. They won't come up and tell you," she said. "Listening will help a lot." This article was published on Thursday, July 16, 1998 Copyright, permissions and privacy policy Copyright © 2008, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. |
 |
|