My 15 year old niece is being tried as an adult for a fight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old niece has been in so many fights for 2 years. The last fight resulted in serious injury of the victim. I don’t condone fights at all, but this time she was tried as an adult, which made the whole family mad. I and my sister (her mother) spoke to the prosecutor directly insisting she be tried as a juvenile. The prosecutor said she has been tried as a juvenile so many times and is unable to be rehabilitated. I said teens brains are not fully developed so it takes time. At one point he said “adult actions have adult consequences” and I replied “teen actions have teen consequences”. It’s not fair the town doesn’t trust her to be out after 10 PM without an adult but thinks she is mature enough to foresee the consequences of her actions 20+ years later. I know a 17 year old kid who is being tried as a juvenile for shoplifting. This isn’t his first time shoplifting and he is older than my niece. He is being tried as a juvenile. What? Shoplifting isn’t as bad as fighting?

I was not aware that family members of the accused were able to set the parameters of the prosecution. Learn something new every day.

You did not know rich people hire lawyers that directly call the prosecutor and work a deal.

Really?

[Anonymous]

Start prepping her for prison. The fighting will help there.

[Anonymous]

Hire a psychiatrist for a mental health screening. If she has a diagnosed condition, it will help with her defense, at least with her sentencing if convicted.

[Anonymous]

What exactly was the serious injury?

[Anonymous]

Are you serious? Shoplifting is definitely not the same as fighting. Fighting is a violent crime, shoplifting is not. Since this is not her 1st, 2nd, or 3rd time and someone else was severely injured, your niece should be tried as an adult. Your niece has committed violence against other people many times (your words) and it wasn't in self-defense or defense of others. How many chances should she get?

Good for the prosecutor.

[Anonymous]

Military school. Seriously.

Also, where is the dad in this?
Someone needs to seriously discipline and put restrictions on this child until she grows up and stops being a menace to society.

Serious tough love is in order.

[Anonymous]

Team prosecutor.

With all you family's enabling, I wonder how your niece ended up that way? Such a mystery.

[Anonymous]

must be a troll.

[Anonymous]

Was the person that she was fighting with a willing participant? For example, was she fighting another member of a rival gang in a prearranged fight? Or is she beating up on a random kid in the hallways at school? Neither is good, but I don't think fighting a willing adversary is sociopathic. Just poor judgment and a bad crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was the person that she was fighting with a willing participant? For example, was she fighting another member of a rival gang in a prearranged fight? Or is she beating up on a random kid in the hallways at school? Neither is good, but I don't think fighting a willing adversary is sociopathic. Just poor judgment and a bad crowd.

I think it's sociopathic to be in "so many fights" over the past couple years.

[Anonymous]

I work for the state juvenile prison schools. She will get more "rehabilitation" from an adult prison than being at Waxter or Lower Eastern Shore (is that where she went last time? or Noyes?)

[Anonymous]

The girl needs serious help. She needs counseling and to not be out by herself. She probably needs to go to a special school. And I also agree that there probably needs to be some more accountability forced on her by her parents. BUT a 15 year old is NOT an adult and should not be tried and an adult. Brain development is not complete at 15 and is is wrong to treat her as if she was an adult for punishment. GET HER HELP NOW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old niece has been in so many fights for 2 years. The last fight resulted in serious injury of the victim. I don’t condone fights at all, but this time she was tried as an adult, which made the whole family mad. I and my sister (her mother) spoke to the prosecutor directly insisting she be tried as a juvenile. The prosecutor said she has been tried as a juvenile so many times and is unable to be rehabilitated. I said teens brains are not fully developed so it takes time. At one point he said “adult actions have adult consequences” and I replied “teen actions have teen consequences”. It’s not fair the town doesn’t trust her to be out after 10 PM without an adult but thinks she is mature enough to foresee the consequences of her actions 20+ years later. I know a 17 year old kid who is being tried as a juvenile for shoplifting. This isn’t his first time shoplifting and he is older than my niece. He is being tried as a juvenile. What? Shoplifting isn’t as bad as fighting?

Your neice’s behavior has escalated rather than improved. Now there’s another kid who has been seriously injured. If I were the prosecutor, I would have tried your neice as an adult, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for the state juvenile prison schools. She will get more "rehabilitation" from an adult prison than being at Waxter or Lower Eastern Shore (is that where she went last time? or Noyes?)

This board is not MD or MoCo specific so it could just as easily be DC or Virginia. This sounds like par for the course in Virginia. OP - you should be talking to the child's lawyer, not the internet. Have you ever known an anonymous internet site to be a bastion of compassion? Me neither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be mad all you want. Instead of being mad at the prosecutor, maybe try dealing with the fact that your niece is violent, that she is seriously hurting other people, and that being tried as a juvenile "many times" isn't a deterrent for her.

THIS
THIS
THIS

—a prosecutor