Officials continue to contribute to the destruction of our nation's children.
NO offers of a "chance" to turn their lives around, and become productive members of society, when are they gonna ever "understand" the difference between "children", and adults". How anyone say and certify a "child" as an adult"???? Juvenile justice will never be obtained, until these barbaric laws are changed, juvenile justice reform is critical and imperative to save their children's very lives!!!!! ADULT PRISON FOR CHILDREN IS "NOT" THE SOLUTION, NOT THE ANSWER!!!!


Law could send more youths to adult prisons

AUSTIN -- The new law designed to rid the Texas Youth Commission of conditions that led to the widespread abuse of young lawbreakers in state custody is likely to result in more juvenile offenders ending up in jails and prisons where hardened adult criminals are housed, some prosecutors and law enforcement officials say.

At issue is a provision in Senate Bill 103, passed this year after a sex-abuse scandal that sparked a top-to-bottom housecleaning of the state agency. The provision forbids the youth commission from keeping offenders in custody past their 19th birthday.

Critics of the new law say prosecutors around the state will push to have more youths certified to stand trial as adults if the crimes they are accused of committing would make them too serious a risk to have back on the street after only a year or two behind bars.

"The Legislature really tied our hands on this one," said Riley Shaw, a juvenile crimes prosecutor for the Tarrant County district attorney's office. "We are going to be looking at seeking [adult] certification in a greater number of cases than we had been under the old system."

Shaw's concerns were echoed by a representative of the Texas County and District Attorneys Association, by an urban county jail administrator and by a criminal justice advocacy group that had championed the overhaul of the youth commission on grounds that young offenders in state custody needed stronger measures on the books to safeguard their rights.

Dangerous kids

But a lawmaker who helped craft the measure urged critics to withhold judgment until all of the provisions have been tested in real-world conditions. Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said the measure contains provisions to keep dangerous youths confined or under community supervision and allocates money to local authorities to operate community detention centers and halfway houses for troubled youngsters.

"They're trying to make the new statute a booger bear that it's not," said Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "I think it would be a whole lot better if all the parties involved just worked together to make sure the statute is implemented the way it was supposed to be."

Shannon Edmonds, director of governmental relations for the county and district attorneys association, said the new law effectively undermines how young offenders are sentenced to confinement in a Texas Youth Commission facility. Under the old system, an offender could be sentenced to a certain number of years in custody. The offender would remain with the youth commission until he or she turned 21, and if time remained on the sentence would be transferred to an adult prison.

But now, if a 15- or 16-year-old commits a felony, he or she can be confined to a TYC facility only until age 19. After that, the options are supervised release or transfer to an adult prison.


Story continues:
http://www.star-telegram.com/legislatur ... 25113.html







9-6-07 - FT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM - TX - By JOHN MORITZ - Star-Telegram Staff Writer


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