TURNING THE TIDE ON JUVENILE CRIME

Crime statistics for young offenders are down, and prevention -- not prison
- -- gets the credit

DON'T trust anyone over 12, baby boomers say. We are afraid of our children
- -- or, at least, of other people's children. We read about crazy kids
shooting their schoolmates, gang kids murdering their rivals and anyone
else who gets in the way. We know many kids are growing up in
single-parent and too-busy-to-parent families, raised by Animaniacs rather
than adults.

But something happened to those young ``super-predators'' on their way to
destroy our society. They stopped off at the after-school center to do
their homework and play afternoon basketball.

The Senate is considering a bill that would authorize trying 14-year-olds
as adults, and sending them to adult prisons. It boosts funds for
prosecution and punishment, cuts funds for prevention programs.

But juvenile crime is declining -- in part because prevention programs are
working.

Violent crime by juveniles and by 18- to 24-year-olds rose dramatically
from 1984 to 1993. The prime suspect is the crack epidemic, which fueled
gang wars over drug turf and spread the use of guns; media violence and
absent fathers are also blamed.

As the crime wave was about to peak, the National Center for Juvenile
Justice in Pittsburgh found arrests of juveniles for violent crimes had
doubled from 1983-1992 and would double again by 2010 if the trends
continued. But they didn't.

Juvenile crime was down in 1996, the last year for which data is available.

It was down the year before. Aggravated assault, the most common violent
crime committed by juveniles, is down. Homicide, the most publicized, is
down. The most alarming category -- murders by pre-teens -- peaked at 41 in
1994, and then fell to 20 in 1996.

``It's turned around,'' says Melissa Sickmund, a senior NCJJ analyst.

Juvenile violence arrests have fallen to 1989 levels -- still high, but
headed in the right direction.

Sickmund suspects a combination of factors have helped: an expansion of
after-school programs, mentoring and other prevention strategies; community
policing; tougher sanctions; and more concern by parents about supervising
children.

The drug market stabilized, says James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University
criminologist. And communities responded to the crime wave by creating
anti-violence curricula in schools and after-school programs to keep kids
off the streets in the high crime hours, afternoon and early evening.

Trying teenagers as adults has little effect, Fox believes. ``For the most
part, punishment does not deter kids. They live for today, die today.''

``Things have gotten better from the worst point ever,'' he stresses. And
the demographics are scary. While baby boomers have gotten too old for
violent crime -- one reason adult crime rates are falling -there's a baby
boomlet entering the high-risk adolescent years. Will they find adult
mentors to point them in the right direction? Or adult felons in the next
cell?

A bill by Republican senators Orrin Hatch of Utah and Jeff Sessions of
Alabama throws teenagers to the wolves -- or, worse, to adult convicts.

``The Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Act'' (S.10) would allow
14-year-olds to be tried as adults and locked up in adult prisons. In
theory, they'd be protected from ``prohibited physical contact'' or
``sustained oral communications'' with adult felons, but the Children's
Defense Fund calls it the `The Child Rape Opportunity and Criminal
Mentoring Act.''

The bill repeals the federal ban on jailing kids who've done nothing that
would be a crime for an adult: Unless state law forbids it, runaways or
kids dumped on the system as ``unmanageable'' could be held temporarily in
adult jails.

States that want a share of $1.5 billion in federal grants would have to
adopt federal rules for juvenile offenders, and spend most of the grant
money on prosecutors and prisons. Funding for programs to prevent juvenile
crime are cut -- except for Hatch's favorite, the Boys and Girls Clubs,
which would get money to expand.

The bill, which has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be heard
this spring on the Senate floor, also contains a grab bag of provisions
asserting federal control over local issues. For example, it forces public
schools to expel students for bringing drugs, alcohol, weapons -- or
cigarettes -- on campus. Smoke a Camel, take a walk.

There are a few kids so vicious at 14, 15 or 16 that they can't be saved.

There are a few who earn ``career criminal'' treatment before they turn 18.

But not many.

To deal with the rare cases, get-tough laws put not-so-bad adolescents at
risk, Sickmund says. ``We've seen cases charged as aggravated assault that
came down to throwing a cup at the mother, poking someone with a straw. For
this, kids could be tried as adults.''

These are children, often struggling to become adults without much adult
guidance. They can get it from a coach, a tutor, a Big Brother -- or the
guys on the cellblock.

Joanne Jacobs is a member of the Mercury News editorial board. Her column
appears on Mondays and Thursdays. You may reach her at 750 Ridder Park Dr.,
San Jose, CA 95190, by fax at 408-271-3792, or e-mail to
JJacobs@sjmercury.com .