NCJ Number
232183
Date Published
October 2007
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article examines the impact of Article 22 of the 2007-2008 Rhode Island State Budget requiring 17-year olds to be tried and sentenced as adults for criminal offenses.
Abstract
Since Article 22 of the 2007-2008 Rhode Island State Budget passed, the Rhode Island Department of Corrections has taken into custody 36 17-year olds who would previously would have entered the Department of Children, Youth, and Families custody, with more jailed every week. The net result, so far, of Article 22 has been predominantly to punish nonviolent and misdemeanor offenders. It has also been to punish juveniles living in urban centers, most with below an 11th grade education, and almost all living in broken or separated families. Other repercussions and consequences of Article 22 are that juveniles that have been arrested will be held in custody, those tried in the adult system will have a permanent adult record, extenuating factors can now determine whether an individual is tried as a juvenile or adult, and shifting youth into the adult criminal justice system deprives them of the rehabilitative approach proven to be successful with juvenile offenders. Article 22 has been shown to be more costly for the State, in both the short-term and the long-term. This report recommends that the legislature and the governor undo its affects immediately by returning 17-year olds to the juvenile system unless they are waived into the adult system. Undoing Article 22 will be cost-effective within the 2008 budget, as well as it will adopt a more fair, safe, and effective policy of juvenile justice. Figures