New Haven Independent

The so-called Raise the Age law was passed in 2007 and scheduled to begin treating 16- and 17-year-olds as juveniles rather than adults starting Jan. 1, 2010. To save money, Gov. Rell wants to delay implementation for two years.

That’s short-sighted, said New Haven State Rep. Toni Walker of New Haven (pictured), the point person on the legislation.

“We know that if we start to divert our children out of the criminal justice system, we save long-term, because we don’t pay for them in the Department of Correction,” she said.

Connecticut is currently one of just three states in the nation that treat 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. Expert testimony was given during hearings on the bill showing that children’s brains — especially the part of the brain governing judgment — aren’t fully developed until they reach their early 20s, and that incarcerating children as adults can increase recidivism and lead them into more serious crime.

Walker said programs had been put in place in the past two years readying the state for the final implementation date. These efforts already saved the state money, she said. “The infrastructure was working. Our detention centers had an all-time low [enrollment] because we were getting them out. We weren’t institutionalizing them, but getting them help in the communities. We had juvenile probation officers, who were working with kids who tended to recidivate, working with them one on one, and that was working. The judges were working. Everybody was working. And then to have [the governor say], ‘We’re going to hold this back,’ we were devastated.”

Michael Murphy of the legislature’s Office of Fiscal Analysis predicts a reduction in costs of more than $2 million a year once the program is fully implemented, after a number of years. But he also estimated the entire Raise the Age program would still cost almost $100 million a year, due to increased costs in the Judicial Department, Department of Families and Children and the Office of the Public Defender. Click ">here to see the numbers.

Walker said she thinks the $100 million figure is inflated by the agencies’ submitting wish lists that don’t necessarily relate directly to Raise the Age. She added that supporters of the law responded to lawmakers’ concerns.

“As we started to hear that this was an unfunded mandate, we addressed this to make sure the police had the ability to give a child a summons as opposed to having to transport children to jail because [legislators] in the suburbs were worried about how they were going to house the children. This reduces costs and helps the kids. We’re trying to keep them out of the system before we go to the final step of actually having to incarcerate them.”

But then she switched gears and said, “We’re focusing more on the cost than on the moral issue of what we’re doing to our children. We justify why we don’t do it because of money, and we need to justify it based on it being a better quality of life for our children. We criminalize every behavior that’s possible as opposed to trying to guide them and work with them. There are costs involved, but it’s not about the dollars, it’s about the children.”

Republican State Sen. Len Fasano of North Haven said he supports the underlying purpose of the bill, but also supports a delay in implementation

“It really is a money issue, not a policy issue,” he said. “I think separating juveniles makes a lot of sense and gives them the best chance of rehabilitating and getting back to their lives. But unfortunately I think we do have to postpone it for a few years. This is not backing off on the law, it’s just recognizing that we are in the worst budget crisis maybe ever, and we are flat-funding municipalities and they’re not in a position to fund this program given the budget crisis.”

Fasano said that municipalities are worried that in some situations police can’t just issue a citation but must take a 16- or 17-year old into custody once the new law kicks in So they’d have to build infrastructure even if it’s for just one teen.

Walker remains resolute. “We’re going to go back in there and try to restore funding,” she vowed. “The other consideration is money from the stimulus package — there is money for juvenile justice in there. Can we use that money so we don’t lose the momentum, and then talk about staggering the introduction of programs or delaying Raise the Age for one year, not two?”