Americans Want Child Criminals Sentenced As Kids
By Gail Appleson, Law Correspondent
Originally published by Reuters, March 28, 2001
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Most Americans believe children accused of murder should be tried as juveniles despite a national wave of state laws that make it easier to punish minors as if they were adults, a survey shows.
The study, conducted by DecisionQuest, a jury and trial consulting firm, and released to Reuters on Wednesday, shows that 48.9 percent of adults say children 14 and younger who are charged with murder should remain in juvenile court.
Dr. David Davis, a DecisionQuest senior vice president in Boston, said he was surprised the figure was not higher given the publicity of recent attacks along with politicians' calls for tougher measures against juvenile criminals.
"The majority are saying kids are kids," Davis said. "The politicians don't recognize that."
The survey was conducted March 20-21 less than two weeks after Lionel Tate, 14, was sentenced by a Florida judge to life in prison without parole for killing a 6-year-old girl in a case that is generating national controversy over how minors should be punished.
About a week after the Tate sentencing, a 15-year-old boy in another Florida case was given a life term for strangling a 12-year-old schoolmate and dumping his body in a septic tank. The sentencings were a result of a trend in U.S. law that began over a decade ago aimed at stemming an increase of violent crime committed by minors. Some 45 states have passed laws making it easier to try defendants under the age of 18 as adults.
Teen Shooter Fights To Be Tried As Juvenile
Even as the results of the survey were being compiled a 15-year-old boy accused of killing two fellow students and wounding 13 other people at Santana High School outside San Diego began his fight to be tried as a juvenile. The lawyers for Charles "Andy" Williams said in court this week they plan to challenge the legality of a controversial year-old voter-approved California law that mandates murder suspects over age 14 be tried as adults.
The March 5 shooting was the worst incident of U.S. school violence since two teenagers killed 15 people, including themselves, at Columbine High School in Colorado, in April 1999.
The DecisionQuest survey was based on telephone interviews in which about 1,000 adults were asked their views about punishing juvenile defendants who are 14 years or younger. The margin of error was 3 percent.
Respondents were first asked which statement they agreed with more: that most juvenile offenders accused of committing crimes should be tried in juvenile courts or that most juvenile offenders should be tried in adult courts. The vast majority, 72.1 percent, said juvenile offenders should be tried in juvenile courts while 19.9 percent said they should be tried as adults.
When asked where juveniles accused of committing murder should be tried, the percentage of those stating juvenile court dropped greatly to 48.9 percent, but the figure still represented a majority of the participants. The percentage of those supporting adult trials for such minors was 42.7 percent.
Davis said another surprising finding generated by this question was that the oldest respondents, those 65 years and older, tended to be more lenient than younger participants. In that age group, 64.5 percent said juveniles charged with murder should be tried in juvenile court while 27.8 percent said they should be tried as adults.
In contrast, 45 percent of respondents 18-24 years old said juveniles charged with murder should be tried as juveniles and 51.1 percent said they should be tried as adults.
Respondents were also asked if a juvenile convicted of murder should receive the same punishment as an adult. The results showed that 48.6 percent thought juveniles should not face the same sentences as adults while 41.9 percent thought they should.
Again, the largest number of respondents favoring leniency came from the oldest category. Of those 65 years and older, 51.7 percent said juveniles should not be sentenced like adults and 33.1 percent said they should.
