I treated young killers. No child should be tried as an adult


To the editor: The query raised by columnist Nicholas Goldberg, “Ought to a 14-year-old faculty shooter spend his complete life in jail — or be eligible for parole?” is an effective one.

A greater query is why are prosecutors allowed to strive a toddler as an grownup? All that flows from that ill-advised authority is a part of an unimaginable course of, together with a court docket handing down a sentence of life in jail with out parole.

What number of youngster growth consultants does it take mentioning that the adolescent mind isn’t sufficiently developed to know the import of committing a homicide, earlier than we get it as a society?

No youngster ought to face 70 or extra years behind bars with adults, at a price of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to incarcerate him, and at an incalculable price to his psychological well being. For lots much less, a minor could possibly be remanded to a locked psychiatric therapy facility.

I supervised a scientific group for adjudicated minors for 15 years. We had murderers, rapists, armed robbers and extra, all of whom we handled with intensive psychotherapy. One teenager lay in wait and shot his mom. One other poured gasoline on his mom’s paramour and set fireplace to her. No youngster is irredeemable, and each youngster deserves the chance for redemption.

Our juvenile justice system is bankrupt.

Teresa DeCrescenzo, Studio Metropolis

The author, a licensed scientific social employee and marriage and household therapist, is a former chairperson of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.