The federal juvenile justice system will undergo radical change if Republican-sponsored anticrime bills in Congress become law. Juvenile offenders could be prosecuted as adults with no guarantee of psychiatric assessment or access to treatment, according to Larry Marx, M.D., chair of APA's Committee on Juvenile Justice Issues.

"APA members need to continue to advocate that mental illness or emotional disturbance is an important part of juvenile offenders' criminal behavior," Marx told Psychiatric News. "Our position as an organization should be that this population needs a competent psychiatric assessment as one of several issues that the court addresses."

He cautioned against suggesting that the mental health needs of juveniles supercede public safety. "But within that public interest we need to ensure that juveniles are adequately assessed and their needs addressed."

A controversial anticrime bill before Congress, the Violent Youth Predator Act, states that juveniles are responsible for more than one-quarter of violent crime and predicts a "coming storm of violent juvenile crime."

The bill, which was introduced by Representative Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, would mandate adult prosecution for juveniles aged 14 or older who commit serious violent crimes or major drug trafficking offenses. Juveniles aged 13 or older who commit any other federal felony could be prosecuted as adults, and youth accused of delinquency could be subject to juvenile proceedings.

Marx stated, "My concern is that regardless of the offense, juveniles would be waived into adult court without proper assessment of their social and emotional needs."

He encouraged psychiatrists to "help policymakers understand developmental issues. The fact that a juvenile is treated the same as an adult overlooks the fact that there are specific developmental stages that may be impacting on the youth's behavior."

McCollum's bill would also eliminate federal requirements that juveniles be housed separately from adults during pre- and post-conviction. At press time, APA and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry were drafting a letter to the House Judiciary Committee expressing their concerns about this provision.

Marx commented that putting juveniles, especially those who are impulsive and reactive, together with adults may increase their risk of being victimized. Moreover, children who commit misdemeanors, "if exposed to highly violent youth in the same facility or if not separated from adults, may be victimized, recruited into more criminality, and hardened by the experience," Marx emphasized.

A more effective approach would be to address the socioeconomic and mental health issues of youth who have the potential to be rehabilitated, said Marx. Research has shown that offenders' behavior does not improve in jails and prisons. When released, few have acquired skills that can lead to productive lives after incarceration.

Marx also questioned whether ethnic minority youth would continue to be overrepresented in the juvenile justice system "if they had greater access to mental health services. This is a key point for APA advocacy."

The proposed legislation would also replace the "antiquated" Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) with a new Office of Juvenile Crime Control. According to McCollum's press statement, the OJJDP has "for more than 20 years required states to implement soft-on-crime 'juvenile justice policies'."

States would receive block grants with no strings attached and incentive grants for punishing violent juveniles and adopting accountability-based reforms. Among the reforms are ensuring a sanction for every delinquent act and escalating the sanction with each subsequent delinquent act.

Marx commented that the danger with unrestricted block grants is that even "more states would opt to waive juveniles into adult systems." Several states have already legislated waivers for juveniles into adult court for certain crimes. "Some states frequently detain these children without adequate due process and no guarantees of a psychiatric assessment," said Marx. Moreover, allowing budget-strapped states to decide how much money to spend on their juvenile systems will likely result in less comprehensive treatment approaches and interventions, he said.

(Psychiatric News, September 6, 1996)