Attorney General Jay Nixon said the juvenile crime bill before Gov. Mel Carnahan would give law enforcement and school officials ammunition to curb a disturbing trend.
"We haven't had a major rewrite in juvenile crime legislation in 30 years," Nixon said during a recent telephone interview from his office in Jefferson City. "This has been long overdue."
Nixon said word from Gov. Mel Carnahan's office is that the bill will be signed sooner than the July 15 deadline. "All indications are that they are in support of this legislation," Nixon said.
Nixon has pushed for an open records provision to help inform school administrators what kind of students they are dealing with for several months.
"The case of the 15-year-old male allegedly assaulting the girl at McCluer North High School in St. Louis is just one example of what can happen when schools don't share records of students who have a history of violence," Nixon said. "This new bill will give schools the right to share that kind of information."
Nixon was referring to a girl who was drowned in the girls' restroom toilet during school hours after she was beaten by a 15-year-old boy.
The attorney general favors a provision that makes juveniles' records public if they are charged with a felony. "It's an improvement over what we've had," he said. "It takes away the impediment for juvenile officers to talk to the teachers after dealing with a kid who has committed a violent crime."
U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft is also a strong supporter of the juvenile crime bill. In fact, Ashcroft has a plan to increase the power of the bill on a national level.
Ashcroft is developing legislation that would address failures in the current juvenile criminal system. Key elements in the legislation would be to encourage states to reform the juvenile justice system for violent and hard-core juveniles by:
-- Trying serious juvenile offenders 14 or older in adult court for crimes, such as murder, aggravated assault and forcible rape; and trying juveniles as adults who commit serious repeat offenses.
-- Assisting law enforcement agencies by making records more accessible on juveniles who have been sentenced for committing a delinquent act and sending the FBI a copy of the records along with fingerprints and photographs for inclusion in a national computer database.
-- Allowing school officials to have access to certain juvenile offense records so they know about potential problems and can provide a safe learning environment.
Law on juvenile court records
The proceedings of the juvenile court shall be entered in a book kept for that purpose and known as the juvenile records. These records as well as all information obtained and social records prepared in the discharge of official duty for the court shall not be open to inspection or their contents disclosed, except by order of the court to persons having a legitimate interest therein, unless a petition or motion to modify is sustained which charges the child with a Class A felony, or capitol murder, first degree murder or second degree murder.
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