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A recent spate of serious juvenile crime, including a string of car thefts in which offenders fled police at high speeds and the slaying of an innocent 63-year-old man in Hartford, represent one of the most serious and brazen outbreaks in years. The spree led to assertions from top state law enforcement officials that laws adding 17-year-olds to juvenile court, and making it harder to lock-up juveniles or transfer them to adult court, have made Connecticut more dangerous.
But a Courant review of five years of juvenile-crime data found that it would be hard to draw a straight line between the reforms and the recent outbreak. Adding the 17-year-olds in 2012 has not overwhelmed the Connecticut juvenile court, as was feared. One major indicator shows that older teens handled in juvenile court are veering away from the criminal justice system in significant numbers, and only a relatively small number of them are being imprisoned later as adults.
Martha Stone, UConn law professor and a pioneering children’s rights and juvenile defense lawyer, makes the point that a juvenile can still be detained for dangerousness. She and other advocates are adamant that years’ worth of research shows that locking up teen-agers for reasons other than a public-safety threat causes harm in the long run.
Bonnie Berk
Communications Director
860-570-5327
Hartford – Bridgeport – New Haven
