Too Young for Jail? Recent violent cases reopen debate on juvenile criminal responsibility

The brutal crime carried out by two teenagers in Nevada reopened the debate about whether minors should face the legal system the same as an adult when they commit a crime. The discussion arose again after the Las Vegas Police arrested two minors as suspects for the intentional hit-and-run that ended the life of retired officer Andreas Probst, who was riding a bicycle.

District Attorney Wolfson expressed his intention to have both suspects tried in adult court. For now, both teens will be held at the county Juvenile Detention Center.

Probst's family asked that justice be served in the case regardless of the age of the accused. "There are no words in this world that can express how truly devastated and heartbroken we are. Andy was a one-of-a-kind man, and for two individuals to take his life in such a cold and callous way is sick," the family said in a statement sent to ABC News.

Other recent cases also opened up the discussion about how the justice system should be applied to minors. For example, three teenagers were charged with murder and other crimes following a shooting that recently killed three South Carolina minors. This was reported by the Richland County Sheriff's Department.

According to the sheriff's department, a 14-year-old boy, whose name is not being released due to his age, was the last detained. He was charged with three counts of murder and single counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and possession of a gun while under 18. Hours earlier, the arrest of Karlos Damon Gibson, 17, in connection with the shooting had been announced. On Monday, Jahkeem Griffin, 17, was also charged in the same case with three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

"This cannot continue, we are losing our teens to violence everyday. We need to come together as a community to address this issue; guns are never the solution," Sheriff Leon Lott said in a press release reviewed by The State.

"It's not enough time for rehabilitation"

The case of another teenager sentenced to 40 years, in Tarrant County (Texas), has generated extensive debate in recent weeks. A 16-year-old boy shot at a group of students next to Lamar High School in Arlington in March. He killed one classmate and injured another. The jury decided that the teenager will begin serving his sentence in a juvenile facility and then could be transferred to an adult prison. But the discussion about the decision began because, despite the sentence, before turning 19, the teenager will have the opportunity to appear before the Juvenile Court judge for the possibility of parole. A length of time that relatives of the shooting victims consider too short.

"That’s not enough time for rehabilitation," the mother of one of the victims told the local Fort Worth Star-Telegram after agreeing to rehabilitation.

As noted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the judge could also decide at that time to transfer the minor from the juvenile facility to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison, "where he would have to serve the remainder of the first 10 years of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole again."

These are not the first cases that reflect youth violence. Last year, Salvador Ramos was responsible for the murder of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. He was a local high school student who legally purchased two assault rifles and dozens of rounds of ammunition on his 18th birthday. The young man died in the shooting at the elementary school. The case later became relevant again after his cousin was arrested for allegedly threatening to “do the same thing” to a school, according to court documents obtained by CNN.

The debate on the political agenda

The debate about whether minors are too young for prison has already been on the country's political agenda. For example, in June, New Jersey lawmakers proposed 14 as the minimum age for minors to face charges as adults. The initiative came about because New Jersey is one of 26 states that does not establish a minimum age for children to be arrested, prosecuted and criminally punished for their bad actions.

The main argument of the legislators who promoted the proposal is that many of the children who are arrested are not ready to be treated like adults and that on many occasions minors are also accused of what they consider to be childish behavior, such as a “tantrum” at school.

A similar scenario occurred in April in Colorado when the House approved increasing the minimum age to criminally accuse children. In the debate, prosecutors who have worked on the issue claimed that, in general, minors who are arrested committed a serious act and not a simple “tantrum.”

State Sen. Cleave Simpson, a co-sponsor of the bill, said children often enter the system for minor crimes. "Issues like a schoolyard fight, tapping a peer on the bottom with a tennis racket or stealing a book from the library, all real-life examples, where kids have been taken to court," Simpson said, according to CBS.

However, Jessica Dotter, sexual assault prosecutor for the Colorado District Attorneys Council, highlighted that has not been her experience. "As a prosecutor who worked these crimes for my career these are not bra-snapping cases or tennis rackets hitting butts," Dotter said in a statement reported by CBS.

"They will become a target for manipulation"

Likewise, Colorado's District Attorneys' Council and police chiefs unanimously opposed the bill, which they say would increase crime.

"They're going to become a target for the manipulation... they're going to become a target for older folks. And they're going to become a target, quite honestly, for some criminal organizations that will absolutely utilize this loophole in the law," explained Interim Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo.

Legislator Brandi Bradley, R-Littleton, stated a similar position on Colorado Politics:

"They are forms of child abuse"

Despite the arguments, there are also citizens and organizations that refuse to allow children to be judged the same as adults in court. Mainly, they consider that the system, instead of helping these people, what it does is prevent their social development. In addition, they accuse the United States of allegedly violating human rights with the prosecution of minors.

“The severe harms that children face when placed in adult jails and prisons have been well-documented. They include physical and sexual violence, solitary confinement, lack of mental health treatment, lack of educational programming, and isolation from family. These forms of child abuse are human rights abuses and frequently follow children as they age and become adults in prison,” assured Human Rights for Kids.

According to National Juvenile Justice, the United States has 26 states that have established a minimum age of prosecution. Of the states with a minimum age, no minimum age reaches 14, and most states that have set a processing age (16 states) have set the minimum age to 10 years. However, legislators continue to try to ensure that young people face justice like adults because they believe that at a certain age, they should already be aware of their actions.

"I feel like at 17, you know without a doubt that what you’re doing is wrong. I think there’s a bipartisan effort here to try to solve some of these problems," defended State Senator (Louisiana) Stewart Cathey in statements collected by The Advocate.