Wallingford wants to raise age of adult crimes to 18

A 17-year-old cannot buy cigarettes, vote or serve on a jury in Missouri, but he or she can be tried in court as an adult.

State Rep. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, wants to change the law. He has proposed a measure that would require anyone under age 18 to be prosecuted in the juvenile courts, except for 16- or 17-year-olds who have been certified as adults.

Missouri is one of seven states that automatically prosecutes 17-year-old defendants as adults.

In addition, any juvenile between the ages of 12 and 17 who has been charged with a felony can be tried as an adult under current law.

But Wallingford believes such teenagers are better dealt with in juvenile court.

Dealing with such offenders in juvenile court lessens the chance they will be re-offenders, he said.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, keeping 17-year-olds in the juvenile system has been shown to reduce re-offending by up to 34 percent.

"Ultimately, it makes Missouri safer," Wallingford said.

"I am not being soft on crime. I am being smart on crime," he said.

But two chief juvenile officers in Southeast Missouri oppose Wallingford's bill and a similar House measure offered by Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O'Fallon.

They said the legislation does not include any additional state funding to hire more juvenile officers to deal with an expected increased workload.

Randy Rhodes, chief juvenile officer for the 32nd Judicial Circuit of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties, said without added funding, "we will have to cut other services" to handle the addition of 17-year-old offenders.

Rhodes said such legislation also could put 17-year-olds in detention "pods" with younger offenders.

Keeping 17-year-olds out of adult jails is "a wonderful idea, but I don't hear people thinking it through," Rhodes said.

Kevin Hess, chief juvenile officer for the 33rd Judicial Circuit of Scott and Mississippi counties, said the legislation offered by Wallingford and Schroer are a "no-go" to him.

Hess and Rhodes said they could support a House bill by Rep. Shawn Rhoads, R-West Plains, that would keep 17-year-olds out of adult jails and look to provide funds to hire more juvenile staff.

Hess said he has six juvenile officers. He said a state analysis shows his circuit needs another seven or eight officers to handle the current workload.

Among Missouri's judicial circuits, the 32nd circuit is most in need of additional juvenile program staff, according to Rhodes.

Rhodes said he has eight juvenile officers; the state analysis calls for 18 officers.

Tracy McClard, who has lobbied for changes to juvenile justice in Missouri, said she supports the legislation of Wallingford and Schroer.

McClard, whose 17-year-old son from Jackson hanged himself in prison in 2008 after pleading guilty to first-degree assault in connection with a shooting, said 17-year-olds should not be charged and jailed as adults.

McClard's advocacy group, Raise the Age Missouri, said states that raised the juvenile-offender age have reduced the size of their juvenile justice systems and lowered short-term and long-term costs as a result of fewer offenders returning to crime.

McClard, who now lives in Jefferson City, Missouri, said juveniles incarcerated in adult jails are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than those in juvenile detention.

They also face high risks of violence and sexual assault, she added.

"No child should be thrown away," she said. "It breaks your heart."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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