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EDITORIAL: Adjust juvenile crime penalties with care

The Day - 2/17/2022

Feb. 18—Two issues are driving a renewed debate in the state legislature about dealing with crime.

Getting more attention is the less serious of the two, and where tweaks in policy and behavior could have a significant impact. This is the problem of a spike in car thefts and of items stolen from cars. The spike hit the state's suburbs, shaking the sense of safety there.

More serious and difficult to address is the continued gun violence in the state's urban centers. The causes of this problem are far more complex. They are rooted in generational poverty and failed schools. They involve parents losing their children to the streets, where disputes over gang turf and perceived slights end too often with a cycle of retribution and retaliation from the barrel of a handgun.

Lives are taken and lives are ruined for, essentially, nothing. In these places, there is no sense of safety because, sometimes, the stray bullets claim the lives of the completely innocent.

Receiving much news media attention was the rise of car thefts and related crimes in 2020, a trend that seemed to continue in 2021, though law-enforcement agencies are still collecting and evaluating the data.

The Connecticut Uniform Crime Reporting System recorded the theft of 7,134 cars in 2020, an increase of 19% over 2019. But 2019 was a modern-day low for the state, with 5,994 thefts. In comparison, car thieves stole 7,310 cars in 2017 and 7,333 in 2018.

Critics of judicial reforms approved by the state legislature, which de-emphasized incarceration of juvenile defendants, see a correlation between this "softer" approach to crime and the rise in car thefts in suburbia. Countering this conclusion is the car-theft increases seen nationally, in places where there were no such reforms.

More likely the spike is a product of disruptions caused by the pandemic and of technology. These are often crimes of opportunity. More cars are sitting in driveways longer, with schedules more predictable. A driver can more easily forget the fob resting on the console than a key that she must remove from the ignition.

Removing opportunity is a primary first step. Lock your car. Do not leave valuables sitting in plain sight. Be aware of your surroundings.

But legislative adjustments can help.

Under existing rules, police cannot hold juveniles for more than six hours, limiting the time for an officer to contact parents or to seek a court order to detain a defendant longer because of a record of repeat offenses or other factors. Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed extending hold time to eight hours. More time may be necessary.

The governor also called for designating auto theft as a serious juvenile offense after a second such crime. This would allow authorities to hold juveniles longer as they further investigate. We also support Lamont's proposal to require electronic monitoring after repeat auto thefts.

The legislature should adopt a proposal coming from the Republican minority to make it a felony if an adult recruits a minor to steal a car.

And many Democratic and Republican lawmakers agree with the need to provide police and judges with full and timely information regarding juvenile records so that authorities can know whether the juvenile defendant is a persistent offender.

We reject proposals to make it easier, or automatic, to transfer a juvenile offender charged with car theft into the adult criminal system. Such an approach would drastically reduce the chances of reform and increase the odds of these offenders becoming lifetime criminals.

As to the problem of urban crime, improved education and economic opportunity are the primary response and pose the most difficult challenges.

As those efforts continue, we support the governor's call to revive the long-dormant Gun Tracing Task Force. It would work with local and federal authorities to identify and interrupt the flow of illegal guns into the state. Lamont proposes using $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to support the effort.

Also deserving of support is the governor's call to increase the number of probation officers and the resources available to them, with the aim of reducing recidivism.

Being "tough on crime" is the easy way to score political points but being smart about crime is the more effective approach.

The Day editorial board meets regularly with political, business and community leaders and convenes weekly to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Tim Dwyer, Managing Editor Izaskun E. Larrañeta, staff writer Erica Moser and retired deputy managing editor Lisa McGinley. However, only the publisher and editorial page editor are responsible for developing the editorial opinions. The board operates independently from the Day newsroom.

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