Drizzt
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Copyright 2003 Midland Independent Newspapers plc
Birmingham Post
January 20, 2003, Monday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 11
LENGTH: 1317 words
HEADLINE: A PLACE WHERE COURTS PUT THE BOOT INTO GUN-TOTING CHILDREN;
FOLLOWING THE MASSIVE INCREASE IN FIREARMS OFFENCES IN THE WEST
BYLINE: RICHARD MCCOMB
BODY:
The teenager appeared before the judge in Birmingham to face a gun charge and told his lawyer he would plead guilty. The child robber had already spent time in custody and expected the worst. He had also been caught house-breaking while armed with a shotgun. But he still hoped to cut a deal and would agree to be electronically tagged.
As a first-time offender, the judge dropped the robbery charge but there could be no negotiation over the gun offence. The boy would go to boot camp.
Deals can be made over some offences but never those involving children and guns. At least that is the case in Birmingham, Alabama.
Civil libertarians will blanch at the prospect, but England's second city may have much to learn from its namesake in the United States.
A massive increase in firearms offences in the West Midlands and the New Year gang murders of teenagers Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare have served to highlight the endemic problem of gun crime within sections of the community.
The conservative US city of Birmingham has an uncompromising approach to youths caught with firearms - it detains them and hauls them before a juvenile gun court.
The court was launched in 1995 by Judge Sandra Storm, of the Family Court of Jefferson County, following a record number of gun murders involving young people.
On the back of spiralling gun violence and an explosion in the use of crack cocaine, 38 people were shot dead by juveniles in 1994. Birmingham ranked fifth in the US for youth murders.
The aim of Judge Storm's juvenile gun court was simple: to protect the public by cutting the number of violent crimes committed by youths armed with guns.
A detention centre adjoining the family court can hold 80 youths, aged from ten to 19, who may be in custody for offences ranging from truancy to murder. Most children charged with gun crimes are held there awaiting pleas.
The family court acts as a centralised venue for all civil and criminal cases involving juveniles, including gun court cases. Only first-time offenders are eligible for gun court - youths with multiple gun charges or other violent offences can be transferred to adult court.
All juveniles caught with firearms are charged (there are no cautions) and they appear in court within 48 hours. They are fingerprinted and tested for drugs at the detention facility.
Most offenders - 95 per cent - plead 'true' (the equivalent of guilty) and are held at the court for a fortnight before being dispatched to boot camp for 28 days.
The offender will also be ordered to comply with an intensive supervision programme, a form of probation completed after boot camp that includes electronic tagging, curfews, daily check-ins and home visits by the police and probation officers. Along with that, they must undergo a drug prevention programme.
Juveniles have to attend classes addressing the consequences of guns, gun safety, conflict resolution and anger management.
Parents cannot shirk their responsibilities and are ordered to take part in a ten-week programme of classes on parenting skills and gun crime. If they do not turn up, they go to jail.
Judge Storm said the programme only succeeded because of the compulsory participation of parents and aftercare following a juvenile's release from boot camp. She said the US Justice Department found boot camp on its own, without the other components of the programme, may increase a youth's chances of reoffending.
The juvenile gun court is a collaborative venture involving the Alabama Department of Youth Services, the Birmingham Police Department, the Sheriff's Department, Jefferson County Coroner's Office, the Mayor's Office of Youth Development and the Birmingham and Jefferson County school systems.
Education as well as punishment is important so a representative from the gun court visits schools to discuss problems about children and firearms.
It is easy for a cynical British public to mock initiatives devised by Americans to cut gun crime. The Second Amendment enshrines in law the right of citizens to bear arms even though studies by public health professionals suggest the likelihood of being killed or injured is increased through the possession of a gun.
Judge Storm prefers to trust her own instincts. 'I have a Smith & Wesson .38 and I keep it in my car for safety purposes. This is America,' she says.
'We have a right here to bear arms in our constitution. My father bought me that gun. I hope I never have to use it.'
In Alabama, people need a permit from a sheriff to carry a concealed weapon and they must be 21.
The gun court stresses the need for the judge to act as educator as well as adjudicator and that includes understanding why youngsters become attracted to the lure of firearms. 'We were surprised at who they were. They were not in general children we would consider to be in gangs,' says Judge Storm.
'One of the major excuses was that they felt threatened. They got either a relative's gun or bought one on the street for protection.
'We had a gang problem here. There were juveniles in gangs and they were armed. We have a theory that children who are in gangs are very often children that have significant family problems.
'Gangs give them a sense of security. In fact, gangs give them a kind of love they don't get anywhere else. Gangs have limits, they have rules. Children that are in gangs don't have anything else. That is one reason we try to work with the parents a great deal. It is very hard to get them out once they are in a gang.'
Evidence suggests the juvenile gun court has made a dramatic impact on youth crime in Birmingham.
According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, juvenile gun charges decreased by 54 per cent between 1995 and 1999.
Violent crime rates in Birmingham dropped by 57 per cent over the same period, following steady increases during the preceding five years.
However, other research suggests the root causes of child gun crime will be more difficult to resolve.
A study of the gun court by the University of Alabama found a typical defendant was male (96 per cent), aged between 11 and 17 (average 15 1 /2), black (88 per cent) and from a single-parent home (57 per cent).
Judge Storm says: 'Basically, they are just kids but the problem is they don't have the judgment that adults have and if you put a gun in their hands they are more dangerous.'
The juvenile gun courtJuveniles in America can be charged with a number of gun offences and the progress of cases is defined:
Gun found: weapon seized by police as part of another inquiry (eg shoplifting).
Gun possession: having a gun is the primary charge. This accounts for most gun cases with the majority of weapons found during police traffic stops.
Menacing: gun is used to frighten or harass the victim.
Gun used in a crime: firearm used during a serious offence such as assault, armed robbery, or burglary.
Gun fired: weapon is discharged near people or into a building or vehicle.
Murder: gun fired at a person.
All juveniles are initially detained for firearms offences.
All gun court hearings are held within 48 hours of arrest and the child may request a trial or plead 'true' (guilty).
Trials must be held within ten working days.
Convicted children are sent to boot camp - exceptions are rare.
Parents must attend sessions designed to stress the seriousness of gun crime.
Failure to comply may lead to jail.
All juveniles are put on maximum supervision probation (between 30 days and six months) after boot camp. Electronic monitoring systems or a telephone voice recognition system may be used for non-compliance with probation.
Birmingham Post
January 20, 2003, Monday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 11
LENGTH: 1317 words
HEADLINE: A PLACE WHERE COURTS PUT THE BOOT INTO GUN-TOTING CHILDREN;
FOLLOWING THE MASSIVE INCREASE IN FIREARMS OFFENCES IN THE WEST
BYLINE: RICHARD MCCOMB
BODY:
The teenager appeared before the judge in Birmingham to face a gun charge and told his lawyer he would plead guilty. The child robber had already spent time in custody and expected the worst. He had also been caught house-breaking while armed with a shotgun. But he still hoped to cut a deal and would agree to be electronically tagged.
As a first-time offender, the judge dropped the robbery charge but there could be no negotiation over the gun offence. The boy would go to boot camp.
Deals can be made over some offences but never those involving children and guns. At least that is the case in Birmingham, Alabama.
Civil libertarians will blanch at the prospect, but England's second city may have much to learn from its namesake in the United States.
A massive increase in firearms offences in the West Midlands and the New Year gang murders of teenagers Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare have served to highlight the endemic problem of gun crime within sections of the community.
The conservative US city of Birmingham has an uncompromising approach to youths caught with firearms - it detains them and hauls them before a juvenile gun court.
The court was launched in 1995 by Judge Sandra Storm, of the Family Court of Jefferson County, following a record number of gun murders involving young people.
On the back of spiralling gun violence and an explosion in the use of crack cocaine, 38 people were shot dead by juveniles in 1994. Birmingham ranked fifth in the US for youth murders.
The aim of Judge Storm's juvenile gun court was simple: to protect the public by cutting the number of violent crimes committed by youths armed with guns.
A detention centre adjoining the family court can hold 80 youths, aged from ten to 19, who may be in custody for offences ranging from truancy to murder. Most children charged with gun crimes are held there awaiting pleas.
The family court acts as a centralised venue for all civil and criminal cases involving juveniles, including gun court cases. Only first-time offenders are eligible for gun court - youths with multiple gun charges or other violent offences can be transferred to adult court.
All juveniles caught with firearms are charged (there are no cautions) and they appear in court within 48 hours. They are fingerprinted and tested for drugs at the detention facility.
Most offenders - 95 per cent - plead 'true' (the equivalent of guilty) and are held at the court for a fortnight before being dispatched to boot camp for 28 days.
The offender will also be ordered to comply with an intensive supervision programme, a form of probation completed after boot camp that includes electronic tagging, curfews, daily check-ins and home visits by the police and probation officers. Along with that, they must undergo a drug prevention programme.
Juveniles have to attend classes addressing the consequences of guns, gun safety, conflict resolution and anger management.
Parents cannot shirk their responsibilities and are ordered to take part in a ten-week programme of classes on parenting skills and gun crime. If they do not turn up, they go to jail.
Judge Storm said the programme only succeeded because of the compulsory participation of parents and aftercare following a juvenile's release from boot camp. She said the US Justice Department found boot camp on its own, without the other components of the programme, may increase a youth's chances of reoffending.
The juvenile gun court is a collaborative venture involving the Alabama Department of Youth Services, the Birmingham Police Department, the Sheriff's Department, Jefferson County Coroner's Office, the Mayor's Office of Youth Development and the Birmingham and Jefferson County school systems.
Education as well as punishment is important so a representative from the gun court visits schools to discuss problems about children and firearms.
It is easy for a cynical British public to mock initiatives devised by Americans to cut gun crime. The Second Amendment enshrines in law the right of citizens to bear arms even though studies by public health professionals suggest the likelihood of being killed or injured is increased through the possession of a gun.
Judge Storm prefers to trust her own instincts. 'I have a Smith & Wesson .38 and I keep it in my car for safety purposes. This is America,' she says.
'We have a right here to bear arms in our constitution. My father bought me that gun. I hope I never have to use it.'
In Alabama, people need a permit from a sheriff to carry a concealed weapon and they must be 21.
The gun court stresses the need for the judge to act as educator as well as adjudicator and that includes understanding why youngsters become attracted to the lure of firearms. 'We were surprised at who they were. They were not in general children we would consider to be in gangs,' says Judge Storm.
'One of the major excuses was that they felt threatened. They got either a relative's gun or bought one on the street for protection.
'We had a gang problem here. There were juveniles in gangs and they were armed. We have a theory that children who are in gangs are very often children that have significant family problems.
'Gangs give them a sense of security. In fact, gangs give them a kind of love they don't get anywhere else. Gangs have limits, they have rules. Children that are in gangs don't have anything else. That is one reason we try to work with the parents a great deal. It is very hard to get them out once they are in a gang.'
Evidence suggests the juvenile gun court has made a dramatic impact on youth crime in Birmingham.
According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, juvenile gun charges decreased by 54 per cent between 1995 and 1999.
Violent crime rates in Birmingham dropped by 57 per cent over the same period, following steady increases during the preceding five years.
However, other research suggests the root causes of child gun crime will be more difficult to resolve.
A study of the gun court by the University of Alabama found a typical defendant was male (96 per cent), aged between 11 and 17 (average 15 1 /2), black (88 per cent) and from a single-parent home (57 per cent).
Judge Storm says: 'Basically, they are just kids but the problem is they don't have the judgment that adults have and if you put a gun in their hands they are more dangerous.'
The juvenile gun courtJuveniles in America can be charged with a number of gun offences and the progress of cases is defined:
Gun found: weapon seized by police as part of another inquiry (eg shoplifting).
Gun possession: having a gun is the primary charge. This accounts for most gun cases with the majority of weapons found during police traffic stops.
Menacing: gun is used to frighten or harass the victim.
Gun used in a crime: firearm used during a serious offence such as assault, armed robbery, or burglary.
Gun fired: weapon is discharged near people or into a building or vehicle.
Murder: gun fired at a person.
All juveniles are initially detained for firearms offences.
All gun court hearings are held within 48 hours of arrest and the child may request a trial or plead 'true' (guilty).
Trials must be held within ten working days.
Convicted children are sent to boot camp - exceptions are rare.
Parents must attend sessions designed to stress the seriousness of gun crime.
Failure to comply may lead to jail.
All juveniles are put on maximum supervision probation (between 30 days and six months) after boot camp. Electronic monitoring systems or a telephone voice recognition system may be used for non-compliance with probation.
