FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio — A frequent complaint heard in Columbus is that kids are committing crimes time and time again and aren’t being held accountable for them.
Anthony Pierson, deputy chief legal counsel for the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office, sees a lot of these juveniles come through the system.
“They should be held accountable for the crimes they commit. Our staff really takes a hard and careful look at what that should look like,” Pierson said. “We need to make sure the youth are held accountable for the crimes they commit so that it isn’t a surprise to them when they turn 18 and they start being held accountable for those crimes.”
Pierson hears the “lock them up” calls coming from the community, but it’s a tough call to make. His concern is locking away a kid for a relatively minor crime for years on end could expose them to higher-level criminals. Those kids would then commit larger crimes once they are released from incarceration.
“In a lot of instances, we’ve seen parents who’ve come through the system, their kids come through the system as being abused, neglected or dependent and then those same children have had contact with children services agencies and they end up committing crimes,” he said.
He said he believes in a stair-stepped or graduated approach to suggested sentencing. First offenses for minor crimes shouldn’t be as severe as a subsequent offense.
“We make those recommendations to the court. I believe in most instances, they are appropriate recommendations,” said Pierson. “Sometimes they’re a lot harder than what the court desires and what the court imposes.”
That doesn’t stand for the worst offenders. According to Monday’s data from the Columbus Division of Police, seven juveniles are suspects in homicides this year. When it comes to felonious assaults in the city, 84 juveniles are suspects in those cases.
Ruchelle Pride, director of Justice Policy and Programs, oversees the agency that tries to figure out why kids commit crimes and how to prevent them from becoming repeat offenders.
“There is no one size fits all. We have got to be more targeted, more intentional and be more of a collaborative front for our community, our youth and those who surround them,” Pride said.
Both said there are a lot of environmental factors at play when it comes to juvenile crime, but recognize there is only so much they can legally do in those situations.
“You could take a juvenile and simply removing them from an environment could solve a lot of their potential reoffending behaviors,” said Pierson.
Pride said her office attempts to get down to those root causes and work with not only the offender, but the family as well to work out a plan.
“What is going on with that young person as an individual? We can’t program an individual into some things until we address the things that brought them in in the first place,” she said.
She said much of this planning begins before an offender is released.
“We’re doing more of a prerelease planning, right? While that person may be involved in the system, what is it we know needs to be identified, needs to be looked into, needs to be really put together in a plan of action,” she said.
Pride said these programs are working, but her office needs more community support to make it more effective. She said without communities standing up to also put an end to the issue, it’s a tough lift.
“We need each other to make sure that we can move as one unit in addressing it and doing it in a way that is going to show a great deal of sustainability,” Pride said.