Juvenile Justice and Strategies to Control Youth Violence: Is There a Conflict?

Abstract

Some time ago, I represented a thirteen-year-old boy charged with murder. I represented him in an unsuccessful effort to keep his case in court. I was his lawyer in criminal court. He was convicted and sentenced to a long prison term. This boy was identified in the popular press as one of the dangerous super-predators plaguing our inner-cities. Our investigation of the case revealed that the murder with which our client was charged was ordered by the higher-ups in a gang. Our investigation also revealed the names of those gang leaders. That information was shared with the prosecution, but it was clear that prosecutors and police already knew, as did local community members, who was ultimately responsible. This wasn't a juvenile or a super-predator case, it was a case in which an entire community was being intimidated by a gang. Had some of the strategies described in Securing Our Children's Future: New Approaches to Juvenile Justice and Youth Violence been in place at the time my young client was arrested, the older gang members might have been discouraged or prevented from terrorizing their community through violence and the threat of violence. A murder might have been avoided, and a young person might not have had his best years taken from him as the result of a long period of incarceration.