Reply to Reported hazing incident involving Damascus High School JV Football team

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What are the real, practical reasons for charging them as adults? Other than, "it was a heinous crime," or "that's the procedure we follow for certain felonies," what outcomes are expected to be different if they are not charged in juvenile court?

Is it so they get due process that they would not get in juvenile court?

Is it strategic, so they can hang a life sentence over their heads to get a plea bargain for 20 years?

Is the idea that they are beyond redemption so they can be denied the education and treatment or mental health services they would get in a juvenile facility (even though they will probably eventually be released from prison)?

Or would they go to a juvenile facility anyway, and this ensures they will then be transferred to a regular facility when they age out to finish their sentences?

What is it about the juvenile justice system that can't handle children that commit serious crimes, even when we know that children are very capable of serious crimes and that some children are very disturbed people.

Just curious about the practical reasons. [/quote]

Here is a description of the MD Juvenile Law System:
[url]https://www.peoples-law.org/juvenile-system-juvenile-courts[/url]

Note that this document is available from other sources, but this was the most complete and the best format to quote from, which is why I used this copy.  From the document:
[quote][b]The Purpose of the Juvenile System[/b]

- To provide care, protection, and wholesome mental and physical development of children found delinquent by the juvenile court;
- [u]To balance the public safety and the protection of the community while holding the child responsible to the victim and the community for the offenses committed and to help the child  become a responsible and productive member of society;[/u]
- To provide a program of treatment, training, and rehabilitation that fits with the child's best interests and the public interest;
- To preserve and strengthen the child's family ties and separate a child from the family only when necessary for the child’s welfare or in the interest of public safety;
- To hold parents responsible, where possible, for working on the issues that required the court’s intervention;
- If necessary, to remove a child from home, providing the child a living situation as close as possible to the custody, care and discipline that should have been given by the parents; and
- To provide children in State custody with a safe, humane and caring environment and access to needed services.
- - Read the Law: MD Code Cts. & Jud. Proc. §3-8A-02[/quote]

I've underlined one of the important lines of the purpose of the Juvenile system.  The most serious offenses are referred to the adult court system due to issues of public safety.  While they are minors, these are particular egregious and violent criminal acts that even the most basic concepts of right and wrong should deter individuals from committing these felonies.  For an individual to have such a lack of moral compass to commit these acts, they are a danger to the greater society and should be referred to the adult criminal court system.  This does not mean they will necessarily be tried as a adult, but that a judge in the adult court system needs to review the case and determine whether it stays in the adult criminal court system or can be referred to the juvenile court system.

Continuing on, whether a case gets referred to adult court system or can be referred back to the juvenile system:
[quote][b]Will you be treated as an adult? Will adult rules and punishments be used in your case?[/b]

You will most likely go to juvenile court, unless you commit a very serious crime. [u]If you have committed a serious crime, the regular Circuit Court will hear your case and determine whether you will be tried or sentenced as an adult, including going to jail or other adult punishment.[/u]

If your case falls into any of the following categories, it may be handled in adult criminal court:

If you are 16 years or older at the time of the offense, and you are charged with any of the following offenses:
carjacking;
abduction;
kidnapping;
second degree murder (or attempt);
manslaughter, except involuntary manslaughter (or attempt);
second degree rape or sex offense (or attempt);
third degree sex offense;
robbery with a deadly weapon (or attempt);
first degree assault;
using, wearing, carrying, or transporting a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime; or
use or possession of a firearm.
If you are 14 years or older at the time of the offense, and you are charged with committing a crime punishable by life imprisonment:
first degree murder or attempted first degree murder
[u]first degree rape or attempted first degree rape[/u]
[u]first degree sex offense or attempted first degree sex offense[/u]
If you are 16 years or older and you are charged with possession, transportation, or use of a handgun (includes all crimes arising out of the same incident.)
Waiver Up: If you have reached the age of 15, the juvenile court may send the case to adult criminal court where adult penalties apply.
[u]Waiver Down: If you are automatically charged as an adult, you have the right to ask the adult court to send the case to juvenile court. Even if you are tried as an adult, you may still ask the court to send you to juvenile court for rehabilitative care instead of imposing an adult sentence.  If you are 16 or 17 years old and charged with murder, you are not eligible for waiver down.[/u]
Read the Law: MD Code Courts & Jud. Proc. § 3-8A-03
"Waiver": You could also end up in adult criminal court by a process known as "waiver." There are two types of waiver: "waiver up" and "waiver down."
The judge considers the following factors when deciding whether to waive you up or down:

Your age;
Your mental/physical condition;
Whether you will agree to treatment and will benefit from treatment in a juvenile facility or program;
The nature of the crime committed and how much you participated in it; and
The public safety.
[/quote]

Why is this first degree rape?
[url]https://codes.findlaw.com/md/criminal-law/md-code-crim-law-sect-3-303.html[/url]
The MD Code of Criminal law defines first degree rape to include:
[quote](iv)?commit the crime while aided and abetted by another; ?or[/quote]
So any rape that involves two more more assailants is first degree rape.

[/quote]

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