South Bend Tribune
Under a bill that recently passed in the Indiana Senate, children as young as 12 could be sent to the Department of Correction.
And the list of crimes that could send a child to jail would expand to include an attempt to commit murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery.
Not surprisingly, the legislation, Senate Bill 449, is attracting a fair amount of attention — and concern in some quarters.
One concern was summed up recently by Marilyn Moores, a Marion County juvenile court judge, who noted that people’s brains aren’t fully developed until they are 25. Moores was among more than a dozen people — including social workers and people who had run-ins with the criminal justice system as children — who showed up at the Statehouse last month to voice their opposition to the bill.
Moores said she opposes the proposal because it would target the most vulnerable and rehabilitatable children.
St. Joseph County Probate Court Judge Jason Cichowicz said providing counseling and other services for juveniles and their families is often more effective than sending the juvenile offender to jail.
Cichowicz, who was a juvenile public defender for more than a decade, said, “Kids make mistakes, kids make poor judgment calls and sometimes that results in harsh things that happen in the community. I think we should be working with them to see if we can make a breakthrough.”
Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem, authored SB 449 — and a similar measure in the last session — in reaction to the 2018 school shooting in Noblesville, where a 13-year-old student shot a classmate and a teacher. The bill, which also increases the maximum sentence for juveniles to six years, now moves to the House.
St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter supports the bill and said the six-year limit could result in him trying fewer juveniles as adults. He sees the bill applying only in rare cases.
But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles — those rare cases — unconstitutional, citing research that shows juvenile brains are not fully developed for adult decision-making.
And this from the Children’s Policy and Law Initiative, among the groups opposing SB 449: Noting that laws prohibit children from getting married, drinking alcohol or getting a tattoo because they are immature and cannot appreciate the consequences of their actions, the group says jailing youth denies them the opportunity for rehabilitation and treatment.
The research and information about brain development bolsters the argument that placing juveniles in the adult criminal system is a very bad idea — and that Senate Bill 449 is the wrong move for Indiana.
