Bill Would Change Age For Children To Be Tried As Adults In Murder Cases

TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Children as young as 13-years-old could be waived to adult court for murder under legislation that advanced out of a Senate committee late Tuesday.

The age was raised from 12 in a last-minute amendment to Senate Bill 449 in the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law committee.

The bill passed with a 4-2 vote and advances to the full Senate for further action.

Tuesday was the last day for bills to be heard in this committee during the 2020 legislative session. The amendment, which was written during the committee meeting late in the day, erased wording in the bill that would allow 12-year-olds to be waived to adult court for attempted murder.

Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem, author of SB 449, wrote a similar bill last session in reaction to a shooting where a student shot another student and a teacher at Noblesville West Middle School in 2018.

Houchin, in explaining the purpose of SB 449, said testimony focus on the victims of these crimes. She said the young woman who was shot in the 2018 incident shouldn’t have to be in fear of her shooter walking free after being released from a juvenile correctional facility at the age of 18.

But more than a dozen people—including juvenile court judges, social workers and people who had run-ins with the criminal justice system as children—packed into the hearing room in the basement of the Statehouse to voice their opposition to the bill. Thirty-four people originally signed up to testify, though some had left before the bill was finally heard in the early evening hours.

Marilyn Moores, a Marion County juvenile court judge, said people’s brains aren’t fully developed until they are 25 years old.

“The farther away you get from 25, the less it is developed,” she said.

Moores said juvenile correctional facilities offer treatment options geared toward children, with mandatory education. She said these facilities work to help change errors in “pliable minds.”

Shane Shepherd testified about his personal experience with the criminal justice system as a youth. He had grown up with a drug-addicted father and at age 13 he was sent to Delaware Youth Center in New York.

“I didn’t need a gun at Delaware Youth Center,” he said. “In Delaware Youth Center, I was able to get education and keep up with myself, learn hygiene, I went through puberty in those places.”

Aside from Houchin, the author, the only testimony in favor of the bill came from David Powell, senior council of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council. He said a provision in the bill allowing juveniles to be sentenced to a maximum of six years in a detention center, up from two years, could result in prosecutors waiving fewer children to adult court.

“Hopefully those juvenile facilities do do a better job of reforming individuals than the adult facilities if they’re filed directly,” he said.

Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, and Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, were the lone no votes.

Glick said SB 449 is making too many important changes for last-minute amendments to be thrown in, and that the bill and amendments need more time to be thoughtfully considered.

Justin Busch, R-Fort Wayne, and Jack Sandlin, R-Indianapolis, explained their ‘yes’ vote to the bill, saying while there are many flaws, they hope to be able to fix the problems with the bill in the Senate.

Victoria Ratliff is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.