Changes in Ohio law have made it a whole lot tougher to be a teenage offender in this state.

Thursday, April 06, 2000

Changes in Ohio law have made it a whole lot tougher to be a teenage offender in this state. Commit certain crimes in Ohio and you could end up answering those charges in an adult court.

The change does not affect every crime committed by a juvenile. There is still some allowance for mistakes and children who are more involved in mischief than mayhem.

But the penalties are stiffer where they count. Commit a crime with an adult flavor – pretty much anything with a gun – and you will answer to a much tougher standard.

And that is a consequence that is long overdue.

The rate at which serious juvenile crimes are hitting the news across the country is a little shocking. Add the recent rash of school shootings to the thousands of teens who die every year from drive-by shootings, accidental shootings, drug abuse and other horrible crimes and you have numbers that reflect a real concern for anyone who has a child he or she loves.

And that is just teen-on-teen crime. There are plenty of adults who become victims of shootings, muggings and assaults at the hands of teen criminals.

The thought of a teenage mistake putting a child in prison for life – or on death row – is terrible. No one wants to think that a child could be that unsalvageable.

But sometimes getting that teen in custody is the only way to make sure he or she breaks a pattern of ever-escalating crime. Stricter penalties and fewer loopholes are the way to make that happen.

Perhaps, in addition to courts’ efforts, Ohioans need to develop a rehabilitation program for teens that ressembles a prison, without the horrible adult influences. A bad experience there might be just what an unruly teen needs to understand the consequences of his or her choices.

Maybe we would lose a few less children to crime.