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As the CEO of Texas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and the former executive director of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, I have spent my career advocating for children who need the help of caring adults to shepherd them through a crisis.
This experience in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems provides me with a unique perspective about the importance of raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include 17-year-olds.
I’d like to tell you about Lexus. Lexus entered foster care when she was 9 years old. The problems with Texas’ foster care system have been on full display during the past few years, so it will come as no surprise that by the time she was a teenager, the unique failures associated with her case manifested themselves in minor behavioral problems. Nothing major, but they were enough to get her sent to a wilderness camp, where she was supposed to focus on learning skills that would enable her to move past some of her problems.
While she was at camp, the holidays approached. The other teens who were not foster youth but who had behavioral challenges of their own began to tease Lexus because she had no home to return to for Christmas. Lexus reacted by kicking and breaking a wooden bed and threatening a staff member, who had joined in the bullying.
Unfortunately for Lexus, she had just turned 17. So when the staff member called the police and she was charged with criminal mischief (for breaking the bed) and terroristic threat (for threatening the staff member), she was charged as an adult.
As a result, Lexus was jailed for 96 days with no access to educational programming — spending a significant percentage of that time in solitary because the other adults in the facility posed a risk to her safety. Her criminal convictions continue to pose a barrier to housing and college today.
Lexus’ story is not unique. Texas is one of a few states that treat all 17-year-olds as adults by automatically channeling them into the adult criminal justice system rather than the juvenile system. Doing so not only results in long-term harms stemming from criminal convictions that can create obstacles to good life outcomes, but in the short term, placement in adult facilities increases the chances that these more vulnerable young people will be subjected to physical and sexual abuse, and the likelihood they will commit suicide. The adult system also has significantly higher recidivism rates.
So we not only risk the safety of the youth but rely on a system that creates an increased risk to public safety.
While this policy impacts all youth this age, foster youth face unique risks. When a 17-year-old who is in foster care is placed in the adult criminal justice system, the adults in her life, including her caseworker, may not be notified, leaving her without resources and support. Trapped in this position, many youth plead guilty without fully understanding their options, placing a red mark on their future. Additionally, a foster youth who is placed in an adult facility is at high risk of being retraumatized after having already experienced significant childhood trauma.
Contrast all this with the juvenile system, which is based on the understanding that young people are capable of change. As such, it has a stronger focus on connecting young people with the support and services — and caring adults — who can help them make those changes. Recidivism rates are lower. Records can be sealed or expunged more easily.
We know from research that 17-year-olds are still maturing and that some of their decisions are a result of immaturity, not deep-seated character flaws. During my time working with juvenile probation stakeholders, I saw teens make remarkable strides by taking full advantage of all available help and become responsible adults with families of their own.
In the foster care setting, our state recognizes that 17-year-olds still need the care and guidance of adults; in fact, foster youth do not “age out” of that system until they turn 18. Even then, Texas extends foster care to the age of 21 because it recognizes that young people are rarely ready to launch adult lives at such a young age.
It is time for Texas to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 18 and give 17-year-olds a better chance at building a life outside the system. I hope our lawmakers will enact this critical reform during this legislative session.
The future of Texas depends on our young people — the stronger we make them, the stronger our future.
Vicki Spriggs is the CEO of Texas CASA.
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