01/18/04  Reply to Gary Turner

In order to understand how the Juvenile Justice System has failed, you must first understand the main goals of the Juvenile Justice System, which is is to rehabilitate, not to punish.  The whole system was overhauled several years ago in order to decriminalize juvenile behavior.
 

So what happens to a juvenile in Dallas?

Little Johnny, who is 15, breaks into a car.  He is caught "red-handed" and placed under arrest.  Little Johnny is transported to Yutes and Family Crimes at the beautiful, new police headquarters.  After Officer Bob makes three, count 'em three, reports over the telephone, Little Johnny is booked into the juvenile arrest system.  This should take about thirty minutes to an hour and half, depending on time of day.  

A detective will review the arrest report and approve it.  Little Johnny is transported to the Wade Juvenile Justice center, also known as Lone Star because of it's address.  Once there, Little Johnny is housed until his parents can be contacted.  Little Johnny will see a judge on another date.  So, Little Johnny goes home.

The next day he breaks into five more cars.  Because Little Johnny isn't very smart, he breaks into five cars on the same street and is caught red-handed again.  He's again arrested, and the whole process is started again.  Is Little Johnny charged with six counts of burglary of a motor vehicle?  Yes and no.

The arresting officer will charge Little Johnny with five more counts. He'll make seven more reports over the telephone.  Then Little Johnny gets transported to Lone Star.  The case goes to the prosecutor, who modifies the charges down to one case.

Under the Juvenile Justice System in the Great State of Texas, Little Johnny is charged with only one BMV.  Until Little Johnny actually faces a judge and is sentenced, he hasn't been adjudicated.  All charges are folded into one charge at his adjudication.  The courts won't consider any new offenses as actual offenses until he's been adjudicated.  They are considered all part of the original crime.

Make sense?  Doesn't make sense to me either.

So who dropped the ball with this kid? Everyone did and no one did. Teachers, parents, police and politicians could all share the blame.

Personally,  I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the one person who probably won't actually pay for the crime: the suspect.  No one knew what he was planning except for him.  No one made the choice but him.

What can be done about this?  Several things.

Write your legislator. Force them to change the laws.  Juveniles are committing more violent crimes and increasingly (decreasingly?) younger  ages.

Volunteer. Believe it or not, many programs exist but lack manpower.

Give funds. Boys and Girls Clubs of America is a great charity that works.

Before everyone gets all worked up about "those juvenile delinquents", I'm going to remind you of the NIMBY principle -- "not in my back yard." It applies to juveniles as well.  

Most parents will, when cornered, deny that their child is even capable of doing something bad.  "You don't know my child. He wouldn't ever do that. He's a good boy."  Denial is such a powerful thing. On the other hand, our delusions about our children may be the very thing that keeps us from drowning the little tikes at a very young age.

I think the solutions to a child's problems shouldn't be found behind bars or by people who's purpose in society is to punish.  Perhaps, the solution can be found in construction paper, Elmer's glue, guitar lessons, singing or a basketball. I think the program's that will save our children should be centered in sports, art and music.

Call me crazy, but I don't feel that a "crack down" on children will solve the problems of our city.  Maybe any letters written to legislators should plea for an increase in spending in our schools or an increase in funding for after school programs. Or both.

If things are left to fester, the only thing that will save this city will be hiring about one thousand more police officers.  I would just rather that I worked myself out of a job and we were all safer.

Officer CS