JUVENILE CRIME LAW IMPACT ON SCHOOLS UNCLEAR

Missouri's new get-tough approach towards juvenile criminals likely will have to be sorted out in court, state Attorney General Jay Nixon says.

"Quite frankly, I think the courts will have to deal with appeals by violent juveniles and their lawyers," Nixon said at the 13th annual Southeast Missouri Secondary School Principals' Association Conference at the Show Me Center Wednesday.

The new juvenile code, which went into effect in August, is intended to hold juvenile offenders more accountable for their actions. It also allows for greater flow of information between juvenile courts and law-enforcement and school officials. Since it is a departure from the previous system that protected identities of offenders and wiped records clean when they reached age 18, it will take time to adjust, Nixon said.

"We are still out there with fuzzy lines and unclear dictates about what information can be shared between juvenile courts and law enforcement and law enforcement and schools," Nixon said.

Cooperation between those who come in contact with troubled youths is vital to preventing problems, Nixon said. He cited an incident last year in which a girl was murdered at a North St. Louis County high school. The suspect had just transferred to the school because of serious problems at his previous school. The law at the time prevented officials at his new school from having access to his record.

The changes in Missouri's juvenile code are the first since 1953.

"A lot has happened in our state since Ozzie and Harriet," Nixon said of the lapse of time.

Nixon said 45,000 crimes were commited by juveniles in 1994, and the number of murders they have committed has increased 850 percent in the last eight years. Lack of accountability, he said, has contributed to the increase in such offenses; the average offender commits eight crimes before getting into serious trouble.