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Gov. Malloy Wants Minimum Age to Be Tried as Adult Set at 21 Connecticut would be first state to raise threshold to 21 By JOSEPH DE AVILA, WALL STREET JOURNAL Dec. 28, 2015 9:05 p.m. ET Connecticut was among the last states in the U.S. to try 16-year-old defendants in adult criminal court until legislators passed legislation in 2007 raising the minimum age to 18. Now Gov. Dannel Malloy wants to make the state the first to push the age up to 21. People who agree with Mr. Malloy's proposal say putting young people in adult prisons exposes them to violence and increases the likelihood they will commit new crimes when they are released. They also point to medical research showing that the brains of young people don't fully develop until well into their 20s. But some are concerned about the implications of moving to juvenile court those who can legally marry, enter into contracts or volunteer for the armed services without parental consent. How does the state treat them one way "if they have those rights and abilities, and then treat them like a child if they commit crimes?" said Kevin Kane, Connecticut's chief state's attorney and the state's top prosecutor. "The concept certainly has some merit, but the details are complicated and really need to be explored in depth." Others say Connecticut's recent success in shifting 16- and 17-year-olds from the adult to the juvenile system shows the state can push the minimum age even higher. "My experience tells me it's going to be less complicated than people think," said Mike Lawlor, under secretary for criminal justice policy and planning for the Malloy administration. "Back then it was a prediction. But now it's a historical fact. You can work through this stuff." Before the Malloy administration makes a recommendation to the state Legislature in February, Mr. Lawlor said it wanted to determine how much the change would cost and how many young defendants would be added to the juvenile-justice system. [cid:[log in to unmask]] Like many initiatives coming from the Democratic governor, the idea would likely gain political momentum because Democrats control both houses in the state Legislature. New York and North Carolina are the only two states that continue to automatically try 16- and-17 year-old defendants in adult court. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo<http://topics.wsj.com/person/C/Andrew-Cuomo/5961>, a Democrat, has pushed unsuccessfully for legislation to try them in juvenile courts, though last week he signed an executive order<http://www.wsj.com/articles/minors-in-n-y-prisons-to-be-separated-from-adults-1450835148> to house 16- and 17-year-old inmates separately from older prisoners. When Connecticut was debating raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction in 2007, the Connecticut Judicial Branch, which runs the state's courts, estimated it would double the number of cases coming through the juvenile court system and in its pretrial detention centers. "The number of kids coming in just never materialized," said Brian Hill, director of administration for the Judicial Branch's Court Support Services Division. In fiscal 2007, 13,391 delinquency cases moved through the state's juvenile-court system. In fiscal 2015, 10,527 cases were handled. Admissions into pretrial detention centers for juveniles have also fallen, from 2,559 in fiscal 2007 to 2,334 in fiscal 2014. A number of factors contributed to the slowdown in juvenile cases, said Deborah Fuller, director of family and juvenile services for the Support Services Division. Juveniles were no longer sent to detention facilities for so-called status offenses like truancy or running away, and other young people accused of misdemeanor offenses were diverted to juvenile-review boards for counseling rather than sent to the juvenile-justice system, she said. Mr. Hill said the judicial branch invested more money for mental-health counseling and home services for troubled young people. The state first rolled out these changes in 2002 and continued adding to these services, he said. Abby Anderson, executive director of the advocacy group the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, said the decline in juvenile cases shows that raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction in the court system has worked. She said pushing the age higher would also help keep more young people out of adult prisons where they are more likely to become lifelong criminals. "If this is working, why would it not work for 18- and 19-year-olds?" Ms. Anderson said. Mr. Kane, Connecticut's chief state's attorney, agreed that raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction has "certainly been better than a lot of us expected." But individuals between the ages of 18 and 20 are very different from those who are 16 and 17, Mr. Kane said. They are more mobile, more independent and legally free of influence from their parents, he said. "The whole juvenile court system is geared for people who don't have that independence," Mr. Kane said. He said there needs to be a careful consideration of whether the state should treat all individuals accused of a crime between the ages of 18 and 20 as juveniles or whether it should be done selectively based on the alleged crime or other factors. In Connecticut, juveniles accused of Class A and B felonies, which include the most serious of crimes like murders, already are automatically transferred to the adult system. A judge in the juvenile court system has the discretion to transfer juveniles accused of Class C, D or E felonies or an unclassified felony to the adult system.