By: Brittnay, Cassandra, Allaire, and Jackie Arkansas Juvenile Justice System

We Chose this State Because… *The main reason why we choose Arkansas is to better understand its juvenile Justice System compared to Massachusetts. *Get some insight on the public views on Juveniles who commit crimes from a state like Arkansas.

Juvenile Justice System of Arkansas *System focuses on Rehabilitation of the juvenile offender and victim restitution. *Depending on some crimes children between the ages of 14 years old or older can be prosecuted as an adult in Circuit Court during that process children are then seen as adults and not juveniles.

Cont… *In Arkansas, children that are believed to have committed a crime may have the opportunity to file a Delinquent petition, which summons the juvenile to an adjudication hearing. *Generally when these allegations are found to be true a juvenile is seen as a “adjudicated Delinquent”

Arkansas: What Happens When a Child Gets Involved in the System *When juveniles become an adjudicated Delinquent the judge then has the authority to have the juvenile undergo counseling, place juvenile in probation or require the delinquent to perform community service. *The judges also decide the appropriate measures for the juveniles some services that are available for the juveniles may be the Division of Youth Services or Detention halls.

Continued… *Children that are incarcerated before or after the hearing are placed into juvenile detention center or transferred into a custody service. *The criminal acts that are committed by these children are viewed as juvenile delinquents and under the Arkansas Juvenile Code a delinquent is defined as a child in between the ages of 10 and 17 years old.

What is Important to Know About Arkansas Juvenile Justice System *Its very important to know that when a child is going through the court process it is very private. More so than adult cases. They records are not subject to release under the freedom of Information Act. Juveniles court proceedings and filings are also closed and confidential *Depending on the crime, Victims are allowed to be present in a court hearing or certain court cases not unless the judge sees the exclusion to be necessary to preserve the fairness of a juvenile proceeding.

Arkansas Waiver Process *There are 3 types used for waivers: *Judicial/Discretionary *Concurrent waiver/Direct file *Reverse

Judicial/Discretionary Waiver *Judge decides whether the juvenile is to be tried in juvenile or adult court. *If the court feels the child can no longer benefit from treatments. *May be requested by judge, prosecutor, parents, and/or juvenile.

Concurrent/Direct File Waiver *Prosecutor has the right to file the case in which ever court he decides. *Requirements: at least 14 years old; guilty of capital murder in 1 st degree; kidnapping; aggravated robbery; rape; 1 st degree battery; terroristic attacks. *16 years old may be waived for any felony.

Reverse Waiver *Reverse Waiver- sent from criminal court to juvenile court unless they’ve been charged previously in an adult court. *Must be in criminal court under a concurrent waiver and meet the criteria for discretionary waiver to qualify for reverse waiver.

Blended Sentencing *Blended sentencing for the state of Arkansas is only in criminal courts do they have the authority-combination of punishments from both court systems. *Juveniles cannot receive punishments from an adult court, if in juvenile court.

Arkansas Juvenile Case *The case involved two young juvenile boys: Mitchell Johnson (13 years old) and Andrew Golden (11 years old). *Involved in a Westside Middle School massacre in Jonesboro Arkansas on March 24, *They killed four students, one teacher and wounded 10 other individuals.

The Night Prior to the Massacre and Facts… *On March 23, 1998, Johnson and Golden loaded Johnsons mothers Dodge Caravan with weapons, snack foods, and camping supplies. *The two proceeded to drive Johnson’s mothers car to school the next day. *Johnson and Golden parked behind the school and Golden went inside to pull the fire alarm. *As the students and teachers piled out of the school the two boys opened fire on them for a total of four minutes.

Facts cont…. *The weapons used: rifle,.30 caliber semiautomatic carbine and.44 caliber handgun. *The boys stole these guns from Golden’s grandfather.

Arkansas Gun Laws *In Arkansas you do not need a license/permit to buy handguns and the state law does not restrict selling handguns to juveniles under the age of 21 by unlicensed sellers. *In this case, since the boys stole the gun from Golden’s grandfather, Arkansas has no state requirement that gun owners should take responsible steps to prevent children from gaining easy access to their firearms. *Gun owners are not held accountable for leaving loaded guns around kids, even if a young child shoots themselves or others. *Although, Arkansas prohibits the possession of a firearm, concealed or unconcealed upon the developed property of the public or private schools.

More facts on the Case… *March 25, 1998, a petition was filed, charging Golden and Mitchell with 5 counts of capital murder and ten counts of first-degree battery. *Golden’s attorney tried to plead the insanity offence, but the court denied that motion. *Johnsons attorney claimed that Johnson had been sexually abused when he was 6 and 7 years old by a family member. All motions got denied and there was no evidence of insanity or sexual abuse. *Although, when Johnson was about 7 or 9 years of age, he was charged with molesting a 3 year old girl in Minnesota, but the case was closed due to Johnson being a juvenile. *These two juveniles were among the youngest ever charged with murder in American History. *August 1998, they were both sentenced to confinement until they reached the age of 21, the maximum sentence available under Arkansas law. *They were sent by helicopter to Alexander, Arkansas, the location of the Youth Services Division’s juvenile facility and the states most secure juvenile facility.

After Being Released… *Johnson is now 23 years old, was recently arrested again at a local convenience store where he was currently working. The officers came to the store to see about a stolen credit card that was being used by another individual. After searching him, the cops found 1.8 grams of marijuana in his pocket. They charged him for a misdemeanor drug possession charge and theft and was sentenced back to jail for one year and $1,000 fine. *A few years before that he was arrested at a traffic stop in Fayetteville, Arkansas on misdemeanor charges of carrying a weapon, a loaded 9 mm pistol and possession charge of 21.2 grams of marijuana and he was released on a $1,000 bond. *After Golden was released on his 21 st birthday, there has been no evidence on where he has been or what he is doing. The only evidence that the state has is that he is going by another name, Drew Douglas Grant.

Overall Analysis of the case… * This case examined the lives of two individuals that came from loving stable homes, with good families, but somewhere in that mix something was wrong with the individuals. *Could it have been that Golden was raised to be familiar with guns and their use at an early age? And he rebelled. *Peer Pressure? *Johnson, a quiet individual that had an obsessive fascination with firearms and rap music, is that why he did this? *The world may never know…. *These boys were not mentally ready to understand their consequences at such a young age, and these two juveniles should have received a harsher punishment because obviously for Johnson, he is still committing crimes and not thinking about the overall consequence. *These boys minds were not mentally capable of making wrong from right choices at the ages of 11 and 13 and they didn’t understand that they took lives away from people and hurt a lot of friends and family members.

Arkansas Philosophy behind Judicial Waiver * The juvenile court judge has the ability to waive juvenile court jurisdiction and move the case to criminal court. *The state allows concurrent jurisdiction which allows the prosecutor to file cases in either the juvenile system or the criminal court system. *Arkansas oldest age to try a minor in the juvenile court is 17 years of age, while the youngest age at which the juvenile system has jurisdiction is 10 years old, but the juvenile system also allows juveniles to be retained by juvenile jurisdiction until the age of 20. *Arkansas does give the juveniles a chance to be rehabilitated in the juvenile system until 20 years old, it does not give the juvenile a chance during the case if the judge decides to try the juvenile in adult court.

Arkansas Judicial Waiver cont.. *Arkansas philosophy also allows transfer provisions which are laws that made it easier to transfer juveniles to enter the criminal system without being rehabilitated. *The state may be allowed to place more juveniles in the criminal system, they have made adjustments to sentencing authority to be able to allow courts more sentencing options such as; allowing a juvenile to begin his sentence as a juvenile and if rehabilitation does not work then they will continue their sentence in an adult facility or place certain restrictions on a juvenile, as long as they do not disobey those restrictions then they are responsible for serving an adult sentence.

Arkansas Judicial Waiver cont… *For the most part, Arkansas’ judicial waiver is determined by the judge and allows the juvenile the chance to be rehabilitated in the juvenile system. Even those who are not as lucky to be tried as a juvenile, most minors under the age of 20 have the opportunity for rehabilitation before they are sent to the adult criminal system. *The juveniles are benefitted by allowing them their education, along with keeping them safe from the predators in the adult criminal system.