HAMM SEEKS TO STRENGTHEN YOUTH LAWS

EAST HAMPTON -- Prompted By Last Year's Tragic Death Of 16-Year-Old Makayla
Korpinen, The State's First Reported Death By An Ecstasy Overdose, Several
Legislative Bills Are Being Introduced To Eliminate The "Gray Area"
Surrounding 16 And 17 Year Olds.

State Rep. Gail K. Hamm, D-34, has introduced three bills to strengthen the
Youth in Crisis Act. Those bills and numerous others will be the topic of a
Judiciary Committee public hearing Monday at 1 p.m. in Hartford.

Several of the bills are intended to assist the police, schools and courts
when dealing with troubled teenagers who are truant, runaways, or are beyond
the control of their parents.

"These young people are good kids, rebellious and trying to grow up on their
own terms, yet they take a wrong turn somewhere or lose their way," Hamm
said. "Parents are seeking court supervision and intervention like
counseling or substance abuse treatment for their children. Too often the
system has let everyone down. We must do more to make sure these children
don't fall through the cracks."

One of Hamm's bills, which is "the fastest way," but also the most expensive
way, the representative said, is to close the gray area on the 16- and
17-year-old issue.

Hamm is seeking to raise the juvenile court limit, so teenagers will be
considered juveniles until the age of 18 years old. Matters concerning 16
and 17 year olds are handled in adult courts, but the teens in criminal
cases can seek youthful offender status.

The second bill would mandate police to notify parents if their teen had
been picked up, Hamm said. If the teen had not committed a crime, he would
not be detained with delinquents, she said. If a teen had defied a judge's
order, for example, the teen could be jailed.

Incarcerating a youth in crisis, a court-defined troubled 16 or 17 year old,
is the wrong approach, Hamm said.

The third proposed legislation would be to construct a "Makayla House."

"We're seeking state funding to create a home for runaway girls who haven't
broken any laws," said Hamm, whose law practice focuses on youth issues.
"They may be truant, or status offenders. They're troubled kids, but not
criminals."

It would be considered a safe house where teen girls could "take a break,
rest from the street and get their act together," she said.

Makayla Korpinen's mother, Catherine, will be testifying Monday before the
Judiciary Committee in favor of an updated Youth In Crisis law. Catherine
Korpinen will share her account of how the laws failed to protect her child.

She will be seeking a change in "the gray area" of the law relating to 16
and 17 year olds, Korpinen said Friday.

"She was 16 years old. She was just a baby," Catherine Korpinen said of her
daughter.

The teen had been away from home for just a few weeks when she died. She
would not comment on what prompted the teen's departure from her Stevenson
Road home.

Hamm had approached her about the legislation, said Korpinen, who said she
had been devastated at the time.

"She was very good to me. She was supportive," Korpinen said of Hamm.

"I felt very strongly," Hamm said of the teen's death. "It pointed out the
flaws in the system."

Makayla Korpinen, an East Hampton High School sophomore, was living at the
home of her boyfriend's family at the time of her death. On May 17, she
ingested Ecstasy at a house party and began to have seizures. The teen was
brought to Middlesex Hospital the next day and was taken by Life Star
helicopter to the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford. She
lapsed into a coma and died May 21. According to the medical examiner,
Korpinen died from complications of Ecstasy intoxication.

The current Youth in Crisis Act is intended to help troubled 16 and 17 year
olds and their families get their lives back on track. Under the act,
parents can file petitions to seek to have the teens be classified as a
youth in crisis.

Under the law, police can search for runaways and report their whereabouts
to families and caregivers, but they are not required to return them home.
Police may hold a teen in protective custody for up to 12 hours until a
parent or agency can intervene, according to the law.

The current act is "permissive," Hamm said. The proposed bills would say
"they have to stay there and contact the parents."

Last year, Catherine Kor-pinen filed an intent to sue the town, the police
department and social services in which she claimed they had failed to
protect her daughter.

Korpinen, according to court documents, had urged police and social services
to return her daughter. She also recently filed a civil suit claiming three
teens and the parents of two of the teens were negligent and that their
actions led to Makayla's death.