minimum age

Connecticut is one of the handful of states that is currently looking at raising the minimum age for juvenile court jurisdiction, in this case from 7 to 10 years old.

Most people probably would agree that raising a child to respect others’ property is important and that a kid who doesn’t do so should be corrected. Reasonable people might disagree over what the appropriate sanction should be, but certainly, everyone can agree that a child’s maturity level and the nature of the misbehavior should be critical factors. 

As a public defender working in Greensboro, North Carolina, I had hundreds of clients over the years. While some of the oldest clients I had were riddled with health issues and long histories of mental illness, some of my youngest clients hardly even knew what was going on. 

A bill that would largely exclude California youth under the age of 12 from prosecution is now headed to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) after passing out of both chambers of the state legislature.

A bill winding its way through the California legislature would bar the juvenile justice system from hearing most cases of children younger than 12, an idea that has sparked a fierce backlash from district attorneys.