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RI Prosecutes 17-Year-Olds to Save
Money July 13, 2007
By Eric Tucker
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - When state
legislators passed a law last month requiring that 17-year-olds be
tried as adults, they hoped the reduced cost of providing for adult
prisoners rather than juveniles would save the state about $3.6
million.
But almost immediately, prison
officials said they didn't think the move would save any money, and
critics around the country denounced it as shortsighted and wrong.
Gov. Don Carcieri, a Republican,
proposed the change earlier this year as a way to close a $450
million budget shortfall. It costs an average of $40,000 a year to
house an inmate at the state prison _ less than half the $98,000 it
costs to put a teen through the Rhode Island Training School, where
juveniles attend classes and receive rehabilitative services.
The Democratic-dominated General
Assembly reluctantly approved the change last month despite a late
effort by Senate members to prevent it from taking effect.
"This was a decision that none of
us liked," said state Rep. Paul Crowley, deputy chair of the House
Finance Committee. "It was basically a money decision."
He said the General Assembly may
reconsider the law when the state's fiscal situation improves, and
Senate spokesman Greg Pare said he was confident that some lawmakers
would propose doing away with it once the legislature reconvenes.
"Nobody was advocating for it,"
Crowley said. "It was done with a lot of reluctance."
After the law was passed, the state
Department of Corrections pointed out that inmates under 18 are
placed for their protection in the state prison's expensive high
security unit, where the average annual cost per prisoner is roughly
$100,000, a department spokeswoman said.
Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said
the governor was hoping to find other ways to reduce the prison
population and the cost of housing teenage inmates. But he said the
$3.6 million in projected savings looks unrealistic.
"It seems much, much harder to
achieve than originally contemplated," Neal said.
The law change comes as other
states are rethinking whether teens younger than 18 belong in adult
court.
Eleven states, now including Rhode
Island, automatically place 17-year-olds in the adult system for all
criminal offenses, and three others treat 16-year-olds as adults,
according to the National Center for Juvenile Justice. But several
are considering changes.
Connecticut this year raised the
age of juvenile court jurisdiction for most offenses from 16 to 18,
effective 2010, and an advisory commission in North Carolina
recommended a similar move. Illinois lawmakers are considering a
bill that would allow 17-year-olds to be tried as juveniles for
misdemeanors, and Wisconsin lawmakers have authorized a study of
that state's approach to teen offenders.
Youth advocates say 17-year-olds
are better off in a juvenile system geared toward rehabilitation
than alongside adult criminals in prison. While juvenile records are
generally sealed, an adult conviction can limit a teen's college or
career prospects.
"When you place a child in the
adult criminal justice system, they're more likely to re-offend,"
said Liz Ryan, president and chief executive of the Campaign for
Youth Justice. "So you're going to be paying for them again and
again."
Some police and prosecutors,
however, have said they support trying 17-year-olds as adults. New
Haven, Conn., Police Chief Francisco Ortiz opposed Connecticut's
decision to move the age to 18. He said 16- and 17-year-olds are old
enough to face the consequences of their actions like adults.
Rhode Island Chief Family Court
Judge Jeremiah Jeremiah said teens get important services in family
court that they can't get in the adult system. Young people accused
of drunken driving, for example, are taken to hospitals on weekends
to see what possible consequences could have come from their
actions.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said
he already had the discretion to try those younger than 18 as
adults, but that he rarely did so because he believes family court
can turn children around. The new law leaves him no choice about
what to do with 17-year-old defendants, Lynch said.
"I'm going to prosecute them, and
they'll have to put them wherever they have to put them," he said.
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