Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Discusses The Age of Criminal Responsibility
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.
