U.S. prison system may return to dark ages of juvenile justice

Monday, September 22, 1997 U.S. prison system may return to dark
ages of juvenile justice JUVENILE CRIME: Bill seeking tougher youth
punishments produces only state-sanctioned brutality

By Dan Macallair

With characteristic grandstanding and hyperbole, the U.S.
Congress is about to accelerate the nation’s return to the dark
ages of juvenile justice. The euphemistically titled Juvenile Crime
Control Act of 1997, which recently passed the House of
Representatives, allows youths as young as 13 to be confined in
adult jails and prisons, requires states to send more youths to
adult court and makes juvenile court records permanently public.
The bill’s premise, according to its leading proponent, Congressman
Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), is that tougher punishment equals fewer
crimes. This refrain has been the wail of publicity-seeking
politicians for well over two decades. Unfortunately, this approach
is inherently destructive and produces little more than angry
adults and hardened criminals.

Contrary to popular belief, the juvenile justice system has
historically mirrored the adult justice system with an emphasis on
harsh treatment and stigmatization. In a rare moment of
enlightenment, Congress attempted to end the practice of housing
youths in adult jails and prisons by passing the Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention Act in 1974. The legislation resulted
from voluminous and wrenching testimony detailing brutal
mistreatment of youths in adult jails. Instead of learning the
value of good behavior, suicides and beatings were more often the
norm.

McCollum’s legislation will reverse the 1974 act and promote
incidents like the case of Rodney Hulin. Convicted at age 16 for
causing $500 in property damage, Hulin was committed to an adult
prison in Texas by a judge who wanted to teach him a lesson. For
the next year and a half he was repeatedly raped and sodomized by
older inmates while guards scorned his pleas for help. In shocking
letters home, he graphically described his ordeal while begging his
father to get him out. On Jan. 26, 1996, no longer able to endure
the constant terror, Hulin committed suicide by hanging
himself.

Hulin’s case puts a human face on statistics that show juveniles
confined in adult facilities are seven times more likely to commit
suicide and five times more likely to be sexually assaulted.

Another feature of the McCollum legislation mandates that states
adopt Florida’s approach of expediting massive transfers of youths
to adult court by eliminating judicial review. Currently, 48 states
allow judges to consider evidence about the youths’ amenability to
juvenile court treatment. Scott Fillipi was 16 when he appeared in
juvenile court for the murder of his mother. After hearing evidence
about the youth’s remorse and the unconscionable physical and
verbal abuse that preceded the crime, the conservative Republican
judge ordered Fillipi retained in the juvenile court, satisfied
that he was redeemable. Fillipi was placed in a rehabilitative
program. After graduating from the program at 18, he enlisted in
the army and eventually served on President Bush’s honor guard. If
convicted as an adult, Fillipi might be serving a life sentence.
Instead, he is now a successful accountant.

Despite its wholesale transfer of youths to the adult court,
Florida consistently ranks among the top two states in violent
juvenile crime rates. Even more ominous, a recent study by
researchers from Florida State University found that transferring
youths to adult court accelerates their criminal behavior upon
release.

The final provision of the Juvenile Crime Control Bill of 1997
requires full public disclosure of juvenile records. Despite
evidence showing gainful employment to be the most effective
crime-control policy, this provision creates permanent impediments
to later opportunity.

The juvenile crime legislation presently before Congress is a
politically expedient and opportunistic attempt to exploit public
fears about juvenile crime. Rather than an effective approach to a
valid social issue, this bill simply hastens the growing acceptance
of state-sanctioned brutality. If savage measures promoted healthy
behavior, we would be celebrating the success of our prison
systems. Because most youths who enter the juvenile justice system
have spent much of their short lives being kicked, staved, punched,
rejected and abandoned, similar treatment administered by the state
simply reinforces the view that cruelty and violence are legitimate
and universal – hardly a message that serves society’s best
interest.

In her study on the self-destructive tendencies of declining
civilizations, historian Barbara Tuchman defines folly as
government policy that is perceived as counterproductive but is
nevertheless adopted – even when an alternative exists.

In this instance, senselessly harsh juvenile crime-control
practices have long been recognized as ineffective and
counterproductive, but continue solely for political reasons.

The juvenile crime bill is our folly. Viewpoint has asked the
sponsor of the Juvenile Crime Control Act of 1997, Representative
Bill McCollum, and juvenile crime expert Dan Macallair to talk
about the merits of the Juvenile Crime Control Act of 1997.

Both sides agree that the bill will radically alter the state of
juvenile justice in America. If enacted into law (it already has
passed the House and is awaiting Senate approval) juveniles as
young as 13 will be eligible to stand trial as adults, and much of
the authority currently given judges will be given to prosecutors.
Proponents argue that such steps are necessary to counter the
predicted rise in juvenile crimes, whereas opponents charge that
the measure is a draconian act that doesn’t give children a fair
chance.