" |
 |
| "Arkansas' Voice on the Internet" | Previous Features / Investigations |
 |
|
 Panel OKs child-sentencing bill ELIZABETH MCFARLAND ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE A Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday to allow children convicted of certain crimes to be subject to adult sentences. The Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 505 by Sen. Tom Kennedy, D-Russellville, after accepting one compromise from opponents and rejecting two other amendments. The bill would allow children of any age who are convicted of capital or first-degree murder to be sentenced to life in prison. Children under 13 would be presumed incompetent to stand trial on those two charges unless the prosecutor proved the child was fit to proceed with the trial and had the capacity to form the intent to commit the crime. The age at which a child is presumed incompetent to stand trial for capital and first-degree murder was the center of debate Wednesday. Originally, the bill said children younger than 14 would be presumed incompetent. Prosecuting attorneys persuaded Kennedy to amend the bill to lower the age to under 12. That upset defense attorneys and child advocates. They said it would make the limit meaningless because so few children under 12 were charged with murder. Sen. Mike Everett, D-Marked Tree, offered an amendment to return the limit to children under age 14. He appeared to have committee support, but he offered a compromise of under 13 and the committee accepted. Kennedy told the committee that Didi Sallings, director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, who helped write the bill, had agreed not to oppose the bill if the age limit was set at under 13. Sallings brought two Pulaski County juvenile court judges, a psychologist and others to the meeting to urge the committee to return the age to under 12. The bill was sparked by the schoolyard shooting near Jonesboro almost a year ago in which a teacher and four students were killed. Boys 13 and 11 were convicted as juveniles of murder in that shooting, meaning they can only be held until their 18th birthday unless the state finds a facility to hold them until their 21st birthday. Glen White, a psychologist with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, testified that the brain doesn't fully develop until after age 14. White said children younger than 14 are not fully able to understand the consequences of their actions and unable to inhibit their behavior to conform to society's expectations. Gary Iverson of Little Rock testified that his son was confined to a Texas prison for murder after a boy brought a loaded gun to school and the gun went off in his son's hands, killing a girl. "They know right or wrong, but they don't understand the consequences of what a 40-year sentence can be," Iverson said. Paul Kelly, a coordinator with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, pleaded with the committee to remember that 12- and 13-year olds are still children. "Children are not maturing at a rate faster than they were when you and I were children," Kelly said. The committee rejected an amendment by Everett that would have removed the possibility of a life prison sentence for children convicted of capital or first-degree murder. Everett said 40 years in prison should be the maximum. The committee also rejected an amendment by Everett to allow children charged as children to raise an insanity defense. This article was published on Thursday, March 11, 1999 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. |
 |
|