Criminal Conduct by Adolescents

In the New York Times today, there is an editorial by Joan Jacobs Brumberg, "Separating the Killers From the Boys", which attempts to address some of the problems with juvenile justice, particularly in relation to violent offenders.

Lee Malvo, the teenager charged in the Washington-area sniper attacks, is on trial for his life in an adult court in Chesapeake, Va. Although "kids who kill" seem like a modern phenomenon, we've actually been struggling for more than a century with how to regard and treat them. Are they men or merely boys? Should it make a difference in the way we think about their punishment?

There, of course, is no easy answer to this - once the boy has been turned into a killer.

After describing the 1892 execution of an adolescent, Brumberg notes,

There were Americans who considered the execution of an adolescent to be barbaric while others hailed it as an act of justice.

More than 100 years later, both sentiments are being repeated as Lee Malvo's trial continues. One side predictably argues that he deserves special protection from capital punishment because of his dysfunctional beginnings, his vulnerability to psychological coercion and his age. The other side responds with their mantra: "A kid who kills like an adult should be punished as one." It's a rhetorical groove we've been stuck in despite the passage of a century.

Brumberg is entirely correct that the notion of "if you're old enough to do the crime, you're old enough to do the time" reflects an incomplete understanding of cognitive development. As children and adolescents fact that children lack the perspective and experience of adults, particulary at younger ages may not fully appreciate the concept of "death", and particularly in adolescence may have a false sense of immortality, give the right circumstances you can turn a child or adolescent into a soldier who will bravely advance where adults would fear to go, and who will kill more easily than a typical adult. Whatever you think of Malvo's "indoctrination" defense, the use of "child soldiers" around the world evidences quite well that pretty much any child can be turned into a killer, in many cases willing to perform atrocities that would make most adults blanche.

Brumberg comments, "boys well into their late teens have difficulty curbing their impulses, thinking through long-term consequences and — most relevant to Lee Malvo — resisting the influence of others." I would venture that most teens who manage to curb their impulses and think through their actions would find this assertion to be patronizing. While acknowledging that there are times in your life when various impulses are more difficult to control, it remains possible to obey the law - and I personally do not care for the "they can't help it" defense, based upon global observations as opposed to individual choices. Whatever the overal tendency, individuals, including adolescent boys, should be held responsible for the choices they make.

The best solution in one sense would be to try to identify children who are likely to end up in prison at the earliest possible age, and to intervene at that time. Of course, this would take political will - the will to invest resources, the will to stand up to accusations of "racism" when implementing this type of program in inner city regions, and the will to stand up to those who decry such programs as stigmatizing. Further, as there is some truth to the problem of stigmatism, and as perceptions of racism may undermine a program, and great care would have to be taken in designing and implementing such a program.

If you speak to school teachers, and they are willing to speak candidly, they will inform you that even in their lay experience they can pick out the children in their classes who are likely to become criminals no later than second or third grade, and usually in kindergarten or first grade. And they will tell you that the identifications have a high degree of accuracy. It makes sense to utilize that information, and to try to get these kids' lives turned around before they become criminals or killers. An ounce of prevention....

Until that happens (and don't hold your breath), we should recognize that it is difficult to classify adolescent offenders like children or like adults, because they aren't like either children or adults. Once we acknowledge that reality, perhaps we can stop trying to cram them into one system or the other (sometimes with slight modification of the sentencing options for adolescents tried as adults), and recognize that we should be designing from the ground up a justice system that appropriately addresses adolescent crime and potential for rehabilitation.

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