2. When prosecutors file petitions in Juvenile Court, they are either detained, which requires that the kid be locked up, then tried relatively quickly, or nondetained, which allows the child to remain at home, with a much longer amount of time allowed before the case is brought to trial. In this case, the boy was arrested on a nondetained petition. In order to put him in Juvenile Hall, Judge Dorn had to make a legal finding that there had been a change in circumstances in the boy’s life that required his incarceration for his own protection and the safety of the community. Dorn found that his truancy was the change in circumstances, but as his lawyer pointed out, that was no change at all—he had not been going to school before his arrest, either. Once again, it seemed to be a case of Dorn doing the right thing—taking steps to get a truant kid back in school—rather than the precisely legal thing.
3. From the author’s interviews with Deputy District Attorneys Tom Higgins and Peggy Beckstrand.
CHAPTER 13
1. National statistics compiled by the U.S. Justice Department show that while white youth make up the majority of delinquents, African-American youth have delinquency rates more than twice as great. For every thousand youth at risk for referral to a Juvenile Court, 41.7 whites are actually found to be delinquent; the rate for African-Americans is 107.8. (For this study, the Justice Department includes Hispanics with whites, so separate figures are not available.)
In Los Angeles, racial and ethnic disparities are even more pronounced, with the Juvenile Court population dominated by Hispanics. The Sixteen Percent study that examined six months’ worth of first-time offenders found that 16 percent of them were white (white juveniles made up about 27 percent of the total juvenile population in LA County at the time), blacks accounted for 24 percent of first-time offenders (and about 12 percent of the juvenile population), and Hispanics accounted for 56 percent of the first-time offenders (and just under 50 percent of the juvenile population).
2. The account of the in-chambers discussion is based upon the author’s interviews with James Cooper and Peggy Beckstrand.
CHAPTER 14
1. One of the best measures of how hard a judge is working is how often he orders continuances on his own motions, rather than at the behest of defense or prosecution. Systemwide, for the first five months of 1994, about 20 percent of all continuances in Los Angeles Juvenile Court were on the court’s own motion. Workaholic Judge Dorn’s percentage was under 15. But 81 percent of delays in Judge Luke’s courtroom were at his own behest, a continuance rate unrivaled by his peers.
Trials are another good measure. During the same five months, Judge Dorn had 545 trials scheduled, and managed to reach verdicts in 39 percent of them, a startlingly high rate, especially because his trial workload is much higher than the average judge. Systemwide, the rate of bringing trials to a conclusion hovered near 33 percent, with the balance continued to a future date. Judge Luke, with 111 fewer trials scheduled than Judge Dorn, only managed to conclude 17 percent of them during that five-month period, and all but a handful of those were through quick plea bargains rather than full-blown trials.
2. Judge Luke later transferred to adult Civil Court.
CHAPTER 15
1. “The presumption that sending juveniles to adult court is a tougher response to crime is not necessarily borne out. The reality of the current system . . . is that youths sent to adult court 1) sometimes are not convicted at all because a jury cannot bring themselves to find someone so young guilty; 2) sometimes are put on felony probation when the juvenile court would have incarcerated them; 3) may benefit from a plea bargain designed to avoid the cost or uncertainty of a trial; 4) may be sentenced to a determinate period and earn half-off credit for good behavior in the adult system when they would have spent a greater time incarcerated in the California Youth Authority” (The Juvenile Crime Challenge: Making Prevention a Priority, California’s Little Hoover Commission, September 1994, p. 83).
CHAPTER 16
1. Crime rates have declined slightly in the last two years—leveling off at a perilously high level after years of growth—but most experts in 1994 believe this is a temporary lull in a storm that will rage for decades. Based on recent acceleration in juvenile crime rates, and factoring in the growth in the nation’s juvenile population that census data show will occur, Shay Belchik, administrator of the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, made this prediction in a recent report: “By the year 2010 the number of juvenile arrests for a violent crime will more than double and the number of juvenile arrests for murder will increase nearly 150%.”
Other experts make similar assessments. James Alan Fox, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, said at the 1995 conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: “The really bad news is that the worst is yet to come. I believe we are on the verge of a crime wave that will last out the century. Unless we act today, I truly believe we will have a blood bath when all these kids group up. . . . There are 40 million children in this country right now under the age of 10. By the year 2005, the number of teenagers in the U.S. will increase by 23 percent, which will undoubtedly increase the levels of violence.”
All of these predictions will turn out to be wrong—hugely wrong. Juvenile crime will drop sharply and stay well below early 1990s levels for the next two decades. But the false predictions and ensuing drumbeat to dismantle juvenile court protections would lead to more and younger children tried and sentenced as adults nationwide. These “reforms” would remain in place long after their rationale was shown to be a mistake.
2. Statistics are from Juvenile Court Statistics 1992, and Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A Focus on Violence, 1995, both by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Bureau of Justice Statistics Sourcebook. The same funnel holds true for the state of California (247,000 arrests in 1992, with only 64,000—26 percent—resulting in actual consequences) and Los Angeles (50,000 referrals to the Probation Department, but only 13,000—26 percent—sentenced to formal probation, foster care, or detention).
CHAPTER 17
1. Ronald’s lawyer, James Cooper, spent much of the disposition hearing trying to undo the damaging psychiatric report that he initially requested. He said the daily beatings occurred only while Ronald was in second grade, when his behavior was particularly bad; that it was never actually proven that Ronald possessed cocaine at school; that the fire-setting involved igniting some gasoline on a pond and had done no damage; and that Ronald had joined a gang in Juvenile Hall only for protection against other inmates who had threatened him.
EPILOGUE
1. Blinky is Elias’s gang name; Clanton Street Locos is the name of his street gang.
2. Uncles, aunts, cousins (male), cousins (female).
3. Grandfather.
4. According to Elias, this is Spanish slang for a gang conflict.
5. Grandmothers.
6. Busted, locked up.
CHAPTER 18
1. Statistics provided by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles School Police Department.
2. “When Youth Violence Spurred ‘Superpredator’ Fear,” New York Times, April 6, 2014. DiIulio briefly served as a senior advisor on faith-based initiatives to President George W. Bush, but resigned after finding the administration too dominated by staffers he famously referred to as “Mayberry Machiavellis” and joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania.
3. The charges are almost always provoked by a particularly outrageous case. In Illinois, for example, hundreds of kids will be tried as adults because an eleven-year-old and a twelve-year-old in Chicago dangled five-year-old Eric Morse from a fourteenth-floor window, then dropped him to his death, for refusing to steal candy for them.
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook
location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Accomplices after the fact, 114, 131
Adult court, 58, 60, 138, 263, 271, 279, 294, 307, 327, 329–30, 337, 353n, 357n1, 364n1
appointed attorneys in, 266
automatic transfer of violent crimes to, 329
hearings on transfer to, see Fitness hearings
and incarceration in Los Angeles County Jail, 64, 67–68
juries in, 282
plea bargains in, 284
procedures imported from, 256, 261
support services in, 108
Three Strikes and You’re Out sentencing law in, 292
and two-tier system, 150, 358n2, 359n5
AIDS, 13, 78, 179
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 365n1
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), xvii
Anderson, Cedric, 149–50
Angel dust, 210
Appeals, 60
of fitness rulings, 80
Arizona, 329
Armed robbery, see Robbery
Arraignments, 54, 55, 58, 233, 281
uncontested, 261
Arrest warrants, 53
Arson, xvii, 312, 352n3, 356n3
Asian Mob Assassins, 310
Assault, 6, 278, 356n3, 359n3
aggravated, 254
in CYA, 363n4
with deadly weapon, 55–58, 90, 103, 195, 212, 242, 279, 326
increase in rates of, 14
in prison, 161
sexual, see Sex crimes
At-risk children, 47, 55, 71, 352n2
Auto theft, see Car theft
Baskin Robbins murder, 35–44, 48, 49, 141, 161, 168, 203, 240, 329
intake in, xviii–xix
pretrial hearings on, 39–40
police interrogation on, 40–42
sentencing for, 311–14
trial for, 113–31, 139, 214, 233–42, 244–52
trial date set for, 19–20, 47
Battery, 58
Beckstrand, Peggy, 10, 11, 16, 31, 35, 39–49, 184, 211, 225, 265, 283, 295, 297, 357n1
and Baskin Robbins murder case, 19–20, 39–44, 47, 49, 113–31, 139, 214, 233–42, 245–52, 311, 313–14
and dismissal of charges, 111, 112, 114–16
Dorn and, 62, 144, 225–26
drive-by prosecuted by, 233–34, 243–44
and emotionally disturbed child, 213–16
and false accusations of murder, 266, 270–77, 279, 280
fitness rulings appealed by, 80, 82–83
misconduct complaint against, 225, 227, 351n1
and reform movement, 139, 141–44, 146
sex crimes prosecuted by, 45–47
sexual assault case and, 254
transfer to adult branch of, 332
weapons charges filed by, 309–10
Beckstrand, Steven, 113
Bed-wetting, 312
Beepers, xv
Belchik, Shay, 365n1
Bihun, Oksana, 62
Bloods street gang, 98, 273, 312
Boot camps, see Camps
Box, The, 155–56
Bradley, Tom, 163–64, 245
Brazil, killing of street urchins in, 148
Brown, Jerry, 61
Brown, Kathleen, 160
Budget cuts, 330–32
Burglary, 6, 162, 228, 352n3, 356n3
California Department of Health Services, 357n3
California Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Information Center of, 351n1
California Welfare and Institutions Code, 85, 356nn3–4
California Youth Authority (CYA), 8, 20, 32, 33, 58, 167–68, 201, 240, 267, 271, 276, 279, 285, 291, 297, 300, 326–27, 361n2, 363nn5–6
“aiders and abettors” in, 280
chemical restraint used at, 331
college programs in, 240
convicted murderers in, 186, 187, 250
Dorn and, 59–60
female offenders in, 193–95
gang activities in, 190–94, 363n4
incarceration guidelines of, 283–84
mental health services in, 217–18, 312
probation violators in, 188–90
racial confrontations in, 98, 155
sentencing to, 291–93, 301–3, 308, 339, 361n2
time after conviction in adult court in, 157, 159, 161, 171
transfer to adult prison from, 340
Camp Resnick, 33, 34
Camps, xxii, 8, 58, 104, 105, 146, 189, 194, 267, 280, 326–27, 363n3
budget cuts and length of services to, 330
early release from, 298–300
females in, 33, 188
probation violators sent to, 17, 59, 184, 223, 244, 277
sports programs in, 271–72
successful graduates from, 335
for weapons possession, 310
Capital punishment, 43
Carjacking, xvii, 102, 104
Carr, Robert, 126, 130, 240–42
Car theft, xix, 5–7, 16, 31, 58, 71–72, 90, 102, 104–5, 136, 178–79, 184, 197, 258, 263, 352n3
revocation of probation for, 207, 326
unsupervised probation for, 103
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 362n2
Central lockup, intake at, xv–xix
Chemical restraint, 330–31, 363n4
Child abuse, 312, 353n2
as defense, 52
distinction between discipline and, 31
see also 300 kids
Child molestation, xix, 51
murder and, 114
prosecution of, 45–47
Children’s Defense Fund, 322
Children’s Protective Service, 270
Clark, Alfred, 145–47, 307–9
Cocaine, 187–88, 326
marijuana laced with, 282
see also Crack cocaine
Colorado, 329
Commitment, 213
Community service, 181, 258
Computers, monitoring probationers with, 331
Confessions, xix, 3, 41, 116, 247, 312
admissibility of, 121, 245
to Dorn, 210–11
suppression of, 43, 113–14, 125–28
testimony supporting, 123
Confidentiality, 358n4
Congress, U.S., 307
Constitution, U.S., 5
Continuation school, 70
Contraband, 200
Cooper, James, 119–21, 123–26, 128, 236–39, 246–50, 313–14, 365n1
Court schools, 149, 150, 314
Court TV, 139
Crack cocaine, 181–82, 184, 203, 210, 241, 242
expulsion from school for possession of, 312
Crips street gang, 98, 174, 184, 273, 277, 278
Davis, Kevin, 271
Deadly weapon, assault with, 55–58, 90, 103, 195, 212, 242, 279, 326
Death penalty, 43, 60, 125–28, 187, 236, 241, 279, 329
immunity and, 236, 241, 249
sanctioned for juveniles by Supreme Court, 229
Decriminalization of status offenses, 30
Delinquents, 3–4, 354n3, 361n2
camps for, see Camps
children at risk to become, 47, 55, 70
first-time, see First-time offenders
in gangs, see Gangbangers
Dent, Richard, 361n1
Derzaph, Wendy, 248
Disco, Dave, 151
Dismissal of charges, 58, 110–12, 114–15, 297
Disorderly conduct, 58
DNA tests, 108, 123
Dorn, Roosevelt, 16–21, 49, 53–63, 90, 94, 101–12, 119, 176, 204–5, 221–27, 242–43, 306, 311, 325–28, 334–38, 357n1, 358n4, 364nn1–2
arraignment for drive-by shootings and, 244–45
background of, 60–61
dismissal of charges by, 110–12, 114–15, 242
and Dorothy Kirby progr
am, 195
and emotionally disturbed child, 215–20
fitness hearings before, 62–63, 68–83, 356n6
and probation violation, 220–24
Public Defender’s Office campaign against of, 256–62, 310
sentencing by, 189, 296–98
and status offenders, 109, 110, 153, 205–11, 310, 335
task force formed by, 138, 208
Dorothy Kirby Center, 194–99, 217–20, 315–18
murder at, 286, 330–31
Double jeopardy, 82
Drive-by shootings, xvii, xxii, 8, 99, 100, 191, 231–35, 278, 327
false accusations in, 272–77
by females, 25–26, 29, 32, 315, 318
truce on, 97
Drugs, xxii, 210, 263, 282–83, 359n3
crimes related to, 6
in CYA, 363n4
foster care and, 85, 89
gang control of dealing, 98, 170, 278
parental use of, 50, 51, 87, 88, 187–88, 201, 212, 270, 352n2
and revocation of probation, 175, 181–82
selling, 356n3
Emotionally disturbed young people:
emergency commitment of, 214
in foster care, 89
lack of services for, 56, 92, 93
Evidence, rules of, 128
EWF tagging crew, 273, 277
Federal prison system, 337
Felonious assault, see Assault
Felony murder rule, 185, 312
Firearms violations, see Weapons possession
First-time offenders, 106, 297
dismissal of cases against, 109
leniency with, 20
race and ethnicity of, 364n1
tracking of, 9–10
Fitness hearings, 226, 306, 329, 356n4, 361n2
for armed robbery, 48–49, 62–63, 68–83, 297, 338
for attempted murder, 214–16, 283
for murder, 52, 86–87, 92–96, 144, 269, 276
Flannery, Sandra, 241
Florida, 358n2
Folsom State Penitentiary, 337