Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Pubdate: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 Author: Joanne Jacobs 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 .