Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Discusses The Age of Criminal Responsibility

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Did you know that only four states in the United States allow seventeen-year-olds to be committed of crimes as adults? In many states, the age at which a person can be convicted of a crime as an adult is eighteen. However, four states, including Texas, allow seventeen-year-olds to be committed of crimes as adults.

There have been numerous efforts by criminal justice advocacy groups in Texas over the years to raise the age of criminal responsibility to eighteen. Their most recent efforts, including House Bill 344, did not make it through the full legislative process and must wait until the Legislature meets again in 2021.

Those who oppose raising the age claim that raising the age makes a state’s juvenile justice system more expensive. Those who support an increase in the age of criminal responsibility say that this is a matter that you cannot measure in dollars and cents. The teenage years are a period of critical importance for any child. The adolescent brain is still growing and developing. Because of this, the experiences that a teenager has during those formative years shape the path that they take into adulthood. If a seventeen-year-old is convicted as an adult, they are unable to access support and rehabilitation programs designed for minors, programs that have proven in many places to be effective in changing the paths of the lives of the youth that participate in them. In addition to missing out on support programs and rehabilitation opportunities, including seventeen-year-olds in the adult prison population exposes them to all of the dangers of life in an adult prison.

Raising the age of criminal responsibility can also make financial sense. Supporters of increasing the age of criminal responsibility feel that any increased expenditures on juvenile justice associated with raising the age will be balanced by corresponding savings in other areas, such as the amounts spent on the adult programs that provide services to the seventeen-year-olds who are convicted as adults and reduced rates of recidivism. Individuals who have participated in juvenile justice programs have proven less likely to re-offend than individuals that went directly into the adult criminal justice system.

Some opponents of raising the age claim that since the number of people who get convicted as adults at seventeen years of age is not that large, raising the age of criminal responsibility would not have that much of an impact. This argument does not acknowledge the amount of impact that participation in juvenile justice programs has on the people who are able to participate in them, and it also fails to acknowledge the harm suffered by  the individuals, no matter how few, who are convicted as adults at age seventeen and placed in the adult prison system.

Fortunately, the small number of people affected by raising the age of criminal responsibility has limited the impact of raising the age on the juvenile justice programs in states where the age has been raised. Those states report that their juvenile justice programs have not been overly stressed by the participation of additional youth, demonstrating that raising the age does not create a financial burden.

Whatever your age, if you’re accused of a crime in Texas, contact a Texas criminal defense attorney right away. Your attorney can help you resolve your Texas criminal law matter. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.

 

Texas DWI Defense Attorney Says Evaluating Truthfulness of Witnesses is Part of a Strong Defense

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If you are the defendant in a Texas DWI case, it is critical that you pursue the resolution of your case with the aid of a Texas DWI defense attorney. DWI defense attorneys are skilled in crafting effective strategies that have the potential to prevent the conviction of innocent clients and obtain a fair resolution of cases in which defendants did drive while intoxicated. Texas DWI defense attorneys build defense strategies for their clients based upon their experience in defending others charged with similar crimes as well as the facts of each client’s case.

Witnesses are an essential component of any criminal law matter, and DWI cases are no exception. A skilled defense attorney evaluates the credibility, the reputation for truthfulness, of each witness that the state plans to bring before the court to speak on the prosecution’s behalf. Sometimes, discrediting a witness who has proven to be untruthful in other matters can be critical to a court’s decision to find an innocent defendant not guilty. At the very least, exposing witnesses who are likely to be untruthful demands that the prosecution present truthful witnesses with quality testimony to support their version of what happened.

It is especially critical that defense attorneys examine the quality of police witnesses. Prosecutors often bring law enforcement officers before the court as witnesses in DWI cases. Unfortunately, not all of those officers are honest, and prosecutors do not always examine the conduct and history of the officers they plan to call as witnesses. The result is that some officers whose previous behavior ought to disqualify them from testifying in a DWI matter appear as witnesses.

Sometimes, prosecutors are even able to wrongfully obtain convictions based on the testimony of individuals who should not have been allowed to testify. This is not only wrong, it is unconstitutional. In 1963, the United State’s Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of Brady v. Maryland that requires prosecutors to inform all persons accused of crimes of the existence of any evidence that might aid in their defense. The Brady decision includes, but is not limited to, disclosing information about police witnesses who have been found guilty of misconduct on the job or of lying.

One reason that prosecutors are failing to comply with the requirements of Brady is that they do not track the behavior of the officers they call as witnesses. They also do not question the integrity of those officers before putting them on the witness stand.  The problem doesn’t just exist in Texas; it is an issue of national concern – over three hundred prosecutors’ offices in cities large and small do not keep lists of dishonest officers. In places where such lists are kept, they are often not accessible to the public so their compliance with the requirements of Brady or the lack thereof cannot be known. It is critical that the public pressure prosecutors to maintain and make available “Brady” lists. Failure to keep to those lists and disclose them can prevent defense attorneys from being able to access information about witnesses that could aid them in preparing the best possible defense for their clients, which is not only wrong but also unconstitutional.

A Texas DWI Defense Attorney can help you navigate your Texas DWI case. Call Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a contact form on our website.